Red light for street circuits: F1 drivers put brakes on sprint races after S’pore Grand Prix

Published Oct 10, 2026, 06:16 PM

Updated Oct 10, 2026, 10:33 PM

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.”

Max Verstappen during the sprint race at the Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix on Oct 10. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR

Max Verstappen during the sprint race at the Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix on Oct 10.

ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR

Max Verstappen (second from left) celebrates on the podium after winning the sprint race alongside second-placed Lewis Hamilton (right), third-placed Charles Leclerc and Singapore sprinter Shanti Pereira. PHOTO: REUTERS

Max Verstappen (second from left) celebrates on the podium after winning the sprint race alongside second-placed Lewis Hamilton (right), third-placed Charles Leclerc and Singapore sprinter Shanti Pereira.

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.

A heavy downpour delayed the start of the race by over 30 minutes, and all the drivers started the session on intermediate tyres. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

Despite the drivers’ frustrations, fans whom The Sunday 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.”

This is the first time Singapore has hosted a sprint weekend since the inaugural grand prix in 2008. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

This is the first time Singapore has hosted a sprint weekend since the inaugural grand prix in 2008.

Kimberly Kwek joined The Straits Times in 2019 as a sports journalist and has since covered a wide array of sports, including golf and sailing.

Laura Chia is a journalist covering breaking news and current affairs, with an interest in sports.

Singapore Grand Prix

发布于 2026 年 10 月 10 日下午 6:16

更新于2026年10月10日晚上10:33

新加坡——尽管10月10日新加坡航空一级方程式新加坡大奖赛的首场冲刺赛遭遇暴雨，场面混乱刺激，但车手们质疑在滨海湾这样的街道赛道上举办这种赛程较短的比赛是否“有意义”。

冲刺赛于 2021 年推出，旨在为比赛周末增添多样性和刺激性。冲刺赛的赛程为 100 公里，约为常规 F1 比赛距离的三分之一。

在滨海湾街道赛道，红牛车队的马克斯·维斯塔潘凭借杆位优势，在因雨延误的 20 圈比赛中夺得冠军，这场比赛创下了冲刺赛九次退赛的纪录。

这位四届世界冠军以 39 分 48.162 秒的成绩率先冲过终点线，在 2026 赛季第六场也是最后一场冲刺赛中获得最高 8 分，领先于法拉利的刘易斯·汉密尔顿和查尔斯·勒克莱尔。

梅赛德斯车队的积分榜领头羊基米·安东内利获得第四名，拿下5分；利亚姆·劳森（公牛车队）、奥利弗·贝尔曼（哈斯车队）、尼科·霍肯伯格（奥迪车队）和兰多·诺里斯（迈凯伦车队）也获得了积分。

当被问及新加坡未来作为短距离赛场地的可能性时，勒克莱尔表示：“我认为在城市赛道上举办任何短距离比赛都没有意义。”

“我们或许应该利用这些冲刺赛，在容易超车的赛道上进行比赛，这样就能有很多精彩的比赛场面，也能为周末增添一些亮点。”

“而在这里或者摩纳哥，我认为它并不会给周末增添任何乐趣。”

41岁的汉密尔顿建议延长滨海湾4.927公里赛道的一条直道。

他说：“这条赛道很适合在排位赛中跑完一圈，但是……实际上，有一个地方你有可能接近超车。”

“我们可以做一些调整，使之成为一条百分百完美的赛道。”

“我觉得挺有意思的。但如果路面干燥的话，那可能就是你看过的最无聊的比赛了。”

除了拥有 19 个弯道和相对较短直道的滨海湾赛道外，阿塞拜疆的巴库城市赛道是唯一举办过短程赛的街道赛道。

虽然 2027 年新加坡大奖赛不会举办冲刺赛，但摩纳哥将在下赛季举办其首场 F1 冲刺赛，作为扩容后的 24 场比赛赛历中创纪录的 10 个冲刺周末的一部分。

维斯塔潘从新加坡短跑女王珊蒂·佩雷拉手中接过冠军奖杯后补充道：“赛道很棒，但我们目前遇到的问题是超车模式，它在这里几乎不起作用。”

“在直道上你其实得不到多少优势，所以，就目前所有的规则而言，即使我们拥有如此优秀的电池，也无济于事。”

10月10日，马克斯·维斯塔潘在F1新加坡航空新加坡大奖赛的冲刺赛中。（海峡时报摄影：阿里芬·贾马尔）

10 月 10 日，马克斯·维斯塔潘在新加坡航空一级方程式新加坡大奖赛的冲刺赛中。

圣路易斯照片：阿里芬·贾马尔

马克斯·维斯塔潘（左二）在冲刺赛夺冠后登上领奖台庆祝，与他一同庆祝的还有获得亚军的刘易斯·汉密尔顿（右）、获得季军的查尔斯·勒克莱尔以及新加坡短跑选手珊蒂·佩雷拉。图片：路透社

马克斯·维斯塔潘（左二）在冲刺赛获胜后登上领奖台庆祝，与他一同庆祝的还有获得第二名的刘易斯·汉密尔顿（右）、获得第三名的查尔斯·勒克莱尔和新加坡短跑运动员珊蒂·佩雷拉。

这是这位荷兰车手在2026年的首场冲刺赛胜利。

在此之前，他的最佳成绩是五月份在迈阿密大奖赛上获得的第五名。

在之前的五场短程赛中，梅赛德斯车队的乔治·拉塞尔在中国、加拿大和荷兰的三场比赛中取得了胜利。

银石赛道和迈阿密赛道的另外两场比赛分别由安东内利和诺里斯赢得。

但拉塞尔在新加坡未能取得第四个冲刺赛冠军，在发车超越维斯塔潘后，他在第一圈就摔车退赛。

一场暴雨导致比赛推迟了 30 多分钟才开始，所有车手都使用半雨胎开始了比赛。

拉塞尔发生撞车事故后，比赛进入了四圈安全车阶段，期间兰斯·斯特罗尔、塞尔吉奥·佩雷斯、伊萨克·哈贾尔和弗朗哥·科拉平托也因各种原因退赛。

瓦尔特里·博塔斯、加布里埃尔·博托莱托和亚历克斯·阿尔本也未能完成比赛，因为阿尔本的威廉姆斯赛车与博托莱托的奥迪赛车尾部发生了碰撞。

迈凯伦车队的奥斯卡·皮亚斯特里在最后一圈与队友诺里斯发生碰撞后退赛。

一场暴雨导致比赛推迟了30多分钟才开始，所有车手都使用半雨胎起跑。ST PHOTO：梁崇俊

《海峡时报》照片：梁崇俊

尽管车手们感到沮丧，但《星期日泰晤士报》采访的粉丝们都很喜欢这场短程赛。

23岁的菲律宾车手恩佐·罗德里格斯说：“直道很短，尤其是之前下过雨。赛道非常滑，当赛车驶过赛道上的白色区域时，就会快速滑倒。”

“对粉丝来说，这很有趣，至少我第一次看的时候也很开心。希望如果它能再次回到新加坡，他们能做出一些调整，因为这是他们第一次尝试。”

过去十年一直是F1车迷的Noun Chamakara补充道：“雨水确实让这场比赛变得精彩刺激——发生了很多事故，对车手们提出了挑战，这是有史以来最精彩的冲刺赛之一。

“这条赛道很适合举办短程赛，一年中还有很多赛道没那么精彩，所以如果后年短程赛能重返新加坡，那就太好了。”

这是新加坡自2008年首届大奖赛以来首次举办短程赛周末赛事。（海峡时报图片：梁崇俊）

这是自 2008 年首届大奖赛以来，新加坡首次举办短程赛周末赛事。

金伯利·郭于 2019 年加入《海峡时报》担任体育记者，此后报道了包括高尔夫和帆船在内的各种体育项目。

Laura Chia是一位报道突发新闻和时事的记者，对体育也颇感兴趣。

新加坡大奖赛