Verstappen takes Singapore pole as Hamilton and Leclerc vow Ferrari will do 'whatever it takes' to win

Max Verstappen will start Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix from pole position for the second consecutive weekend, but he faces a race-long duel against a fired-up Ferrari pairing of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton who have promised to do "whatever it takes" to beat him around the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Verstappen starts ahead of Leclerc on the front row and Hamilton in third, with all three drivers desperate to claim their second victories of the 2026 season. The tight confines of Singapore make overtaking notoriously difficult, meaning the start at 1pm local time — with build-up from 11.30am live on Sky Sports F1 — will be decisive.

Hamilton: "As a team we need to do whatever it takes to win"

Hamilton, who charged from sixth to second in Saturday's rain-soaked Sprint before Verstappen won by 2.5 seconds, insisted Ferrari's two cars must combine to topple Red Bull.

"As a team we need to do whatever it takes to win," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. "The start in the Sprint was in the wet, so it was different. But I believe from third we can have a good start. I will try to capitalise there and after that I think we have a car we can fight with.

"I will give it absolutely everything to try and undo our qualifying. It would be great for us to get another win."

Having topped both Q1 and Q2, Hamilton entered Q3 as favourite but could not piece together a clean lap, pipped by Verstappen and Leclerc by just one tenth of a second.

"The car felt amazing in Q1 and Q2, and when I finished the laps, I was like, 'she's got more in her'. And the only way in order to try and extract that is to try and add wing," he explained. "In doing so, I think it just tipped it over the edge. It was only like one hole or something like that, but it was just on the knife point, and after that then the car was just snappy, and none of the laps in Q3 are any good. So, I'm grateful to be third, to be honest, given that those laps weren't very good."

Verstappen's start jitters ahead of 250th GP

Verstappen, who will make his 250th Formula 1 start in Singapore, is concerned about his launch off the line after a "horrendous" getaway in Saturday's Sprint saw him lose out to George Russell before the Mercedes driver crashed at the end of the opening lap. It echoed last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, though both those starts came in the wet, while Sunday's race is expected to be dry.

Even in dry conditions, Verstappen's recent starts have been only average. Although he did not lose positions by the end of the first lap in his last three dry starts in Baku, Madrid and Monza, his initial getaway was at best middling in all three, forcing him to fight hard into Turn 1 to hold position.

With Singapore's first corner not requiring a hard brake, Verstappen knows a poor launch cannot be rescued.

"That's definitely something that we need to improve on because if you have something like that tomorrow, that's your race over if nothing crazy happens," said Verstappen. "We have a few limitations that we have to work on. Also from our side, I think we have to do a better job, because Racing Bulls sometimes do start better than us. So, we just need to be better."

Leclerc and Hamilton weigh team strategy

Leclerc and Hamilton will be acutely aware of the need to be the lead Ferrari after Lap 1, and the two could run close on the short dash to Turn 1, with neither likely to yield. Leclerc hinted the second Ferrari may need to gamble — or even sacrifice itself — to help the other.

"In terms of strategy, we will have to look but it's also true, whoever is behind after the first lap, if that happens, the second car can lose a lot - whether that's Lewis or me," Leclerc told Sky Sports F1. "That's a team choice and something we will discuss. If a win is on the table, we will have to take a decision. But we will talk about it."

The trailing Ferrari's options would be an early pit stop to attempt an undercut on Verstappen, granting the leader free air, or running long in hope of a timely Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car for a cheaper stop.

"It will be very hard for us to beat Max tomorrow, but there's two Ferraris there, and I think we can hopefully, there might be opportunities for us to work together to try and apply the pressure," Hamilton said. "They [Red Bull] are very, very quick, but I think we have the car in a good place that hopefully we can at least hold on."

What to watch: Verstappen's Singapore ghost, Russell from the back, and rain?

Verstappen is chasing a first Singapore Grand Prix victory, a notable omission from his record at a circuit where Red Bull's form has been strong since the Canadian Grand Prix — when Verstappen took his and the team's first podium of the season — with Isack Hadjar backing it up with third in Monaco.

Elsewhere, George Russell starts at the back of the grid, while there remains a chance of more rain testing the drivers under the lights of Marina Bay. High track temperatures and multiple traction zones mean tyre degradation could be a factor in a race that often nears the two-hour limit, though drivers have learned that managing pace can stretch the first stint into a workable one-stop.

Sunday schedule (UK time, live on Sky Sports F1)

• 11.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Singapore GP build-up
• 1pm: THE SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX
• 3pm: Chequered Flag: Singapore GP reaction
• 4pm: Ted's Notebook

Note: Hamilton's Sprint result and Verstappen's Sprint win by 2.5s were reported earlier on Saturday October 10, 2026, with Hamilton surging from P6 to P2 in the wet and Leclerc taking P3 after surviving a last-lap McLaren collision.