Hamilton hails 'mega start' as rain-soaked Singapore Sprint charge earns P2
Lewis Hamilton was thrilled by the chance to show his craft in the wet at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, with the Ferrari driver surging from P6 to the podium places on the opening lap of the Singapore Sprint. After feeling frustrated by his lack of pace on soft tyres in Sprint Qualifying, Hamilton produced a superb launch that saw him pass both McLarens as well as his own team mate Charles Leclerc on the damp track.
When George Russell crashed out of the Sprint, Hamilton gained another place and cleverly managed the remaining laps to secure P2, crossing the line 2.5s behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
“I had a mega start which is awesome,” he reflected. “I love driving this track in the rain and those conditions, so as soon as the heavens opened I was like, ‘This is a great day’.
“I was trying to get close to [Verstappen] without killing my tyres, so I wasn't really pushing that much but I was bringing him in. Then I just realised that, at this point, we've still got a long way to go, I don't think we'll be able to overtake in these conditions, there's only one line, and so I backed off and then the right side started to overheat a little bit.
“But then I got the control back, sorted, and then towards the end I started to push and started to close the gap, but it's a tough track to overtake.”
Ferrari eye renewed pressure after Sprint showing
The performance gave Hamilton confidence that Ferrari can put it all together in Qualifying and take the fight to their rivals, with the Briton targeting a fifth victory at the Marina Bay Circuit to equal Sebastian Vettel's record.
“I think we showed that we obviously have a good car. I think if we can do slightly better in Qualifying, get both cars up there, I think we'll be able to reapply pressure tomorrow to both the Mercedes and the Red Bull,” he said.
“They are quick, of course, but we can be there hounding them, so hopefully we can position the car in a slightly better position in this Qualifying session coming up.”
Leclerc battles intermediates but holds on for P3
Leclerc was slightly less enthused by his P3 finish in the Sprint due to relentless issues with his intermediate tyres. At one stage he instructed his engineer to “leave me alone” when asked to cool the rubber along the straights, before complaining about degradation.
“I struggled a lot from mid-race onwards,” Leclerc explained. “I went towards a quite aggressive balance on the other side of what I normally do with quite a weak front, which was quite good for the first half of the race, but then when it dried up I was nowhere, so it was kind of tricky at the end.”
He was nevertheless able to hold off Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in a late battle for the final spot on the podium, which came to an end when the McLaren pair collided on the last lap.
Reflecting on the incident, he added: “I knew I had to have a very good exit out of [Turn] 5 because I was very weak in all right-hand corners, particularly with the front left.
“I had quite a good exit but then I checked in my mirrors and I saw red lights on the back of the cars of the McLarens, so I knew that something happened. Kimi [Antonelli] was also very strong towards the end so, yeah, we just didn't have the pace at the end.”
A weekend unlike any other
Singapore is hosting a Sprint weekend for the first time, meaning there was only a single practice session before Sprint Qualifying on Friday — a day-night grip gamble drivers had flagged in the build-up as one of the toughest tests of the 2026 campaign.
The Sprint result sets up a crucial qualifying session, with Hamilton and Ferrari hoping to convert their wet-weather pace into a genuine challenge against Mercedes and Red Bull at a circuit where overtaking has again proven difficult.