SINGAPORE: Even as heavy rain brought chaos and thrills to the first-ever sprint race at the Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix on Oct 10, drivers have questioned whether it “makes sense” to run the shorter-format event on street circuits like Marina Bay.
Introduced in 2021 as part of a move to add variety and excitement to the race weekends, sprint races cover 100km or about one-third the distance of a regular F1 race.
At the Marina Bay Street Circuit, it certainly did as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen converted his pole position to claim victory in the rain-delayed 20-lap event, which saw a sprint-record nine retirements.
The four-time world champion crossed the line first in 39min 48.162sec to claim the maximum eight points in the sixth and final sprint event of the 2026 season, ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
Mercedes’ championship leader Kimi Antonelli collected five points after placing fourth, while Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Oliver Bearman (Haas), Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) and Lando Norris (McLaren) also picked up points.
When asked about Singapore’s future as a sprint venue, Leclerc said: “I don’t think it makes sense to have any sprint races on city tracks in general.
“And we probably should use these sprints to have them on tracks where it’s easy to overtake, where you can have a lot of racing action and it actually adds something to the weekend.
“Whereas here or Monaco, I don’t think it adds anything to the weekend.”
Hamilton, 41, suggested extending one of the straights on the 4.927km track in Marina Bay.
He said: “It’s a great track to drive over a single lap in qualifying, but... there’s one place, really, that you could potentially get close to overtake.
“There’s some adjustments that can be made to make this 100% a great circuit.
“I thought it was fun. But if it was dry, that would have been probably the most boring race for you to have watched.”
Apart from the Marina Bay circuit, which features 19 corners and relatively short straights, the Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan is the only other street track that has hosted a sprint race.
While the 2027 Singapore Grand Prix will not feature a sprint race, Monaco will hold its first F1 sprint next season as part of a record 10 sprint weekends on the expanded 24-event calendar.
Verstappen, who was presented his winning trophy by Singapore’s sprint queen Shanti Pereira, added: “The track is great, but also the problem we have at the moment is with the overtake mode, it barely does anything here.
“You don’t really gain a lot on the straights, so also that, with how all the rules are at the moment, with our lovely batteries, it just doesn’t do much.”
It was the Dutchman’s first sprint win in 2026.
Before this, his best showing was a fifth-place finish at the Miami Grand Prix in May.
Of the earlier five sprint races, Mercedes’ George Russell emerged victorious in three of them in China, Canada and the Netherlands.
The other two in Silverstone and Miami were won by Antonelli and Norris respectively.
But Russell could not manage a fourth sprint victory in Singapore, crashing out in the first lap after overtaking Verstappen at the start.
A heavy downpour delayed the start of the race by over 30 minutes, and all the drivers started the session on intermediate tyres.
After Russell’s crash, a four-lap safety car period ensued, during which Lance Stroll, Sergio Perez, Isack Hadjar and Franco Colapinto also retired because of various reasons.
Valtteri Bottas, Gabriel Bortoleto and Alex Albon also did not complete the race after Albon’s Williams made contact with the back of Bortoleto’s Audi.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri crashed out in the final lap after making contact with teammate Norris.
Despite the drivers’ frustrations, fans whom The Straits Times spoke to enjoyed the sprint race here.
Filipino Enzo Rodriguez, 23, said: “The straights are very short, especially since it rained earlier. It was very slippery and when they would hit the white parts of the track, they would slip very fast.
“It was fun to see for fans, I had fun seeing it at least for the first time. Hopefully if it returns to Singapore, they can make some adjustments to it since this is the first time they’re trying it out.”
Noun Chamakara, who has been an F1 fan for the past decade, added: “The rain did make this race exciting – there were a lot of accidents and it challenged the drivers, it was one of the nicest sprint races ever.
“This circuit could be interesting for a sprint race, there are a lot more circuits that are not as exciting throughout the year so it would be nice to see the sprint race come back to Singapore the year after next.” - The Straits Times/ANN
