2026 Singapore GP Betting Preview

It was a weekend to remember for us at the Bahrain GP, fingers crossed for more of the same. Check out James Punt’s 2026 Singapore GP betting preview and tips below.

2026 Singapore GP

It was very nearly a full house at the Bahrain GP, five winners from six bets and a +21.95 point profit. That boosts the season to date tally to +14.09 points. We have seven races left in the season as the FIA have confirmed that Qatar and Abu Dhabi will go ahead as planned, probably. I.E. they hope that they can go ahead, subject to the political situation in the Middle East, but Imola is on standby, just in case things kick off again.

This weekend is the Singapore GP, and it actually is in Singapore. The original floodlit race, Singapore is the modern Monaco. It is where the money comes, the big deals made and they have a race, or two races, as this is another sprint race weekend, thankfully the last sprint race of the season.

2026 Singapore GP: The Track

Very different to last weekend’s venue in Malaysia. The Marina Bay circuit is a true city street track. It has 19 corners on a fairly long 5km lap. Its outstanding feature is that it is full of slow, 90 degree corners. It is visually stunning, but not a great racetrack. It is a bit ‘point and squirt’ in nature. There will be five straight mode zones. It is not unlike Baku, just without the mega long straight.

It is always the longest race of the year, in terms of the time taken to cover the race distance. The maximum time allowed for an F1 race is two hours, and this race has ‘timed out’ four times, and it is always a close-run thing. It is a slow track and being a street track, it can get lengthy VSC or safety car deployments. The circuit has earned a reputation for safety cars, with every race from 2008 to 2023 having at least one.

Energy Rich

With the large number of corners here, it should be a fairly energy rich track. There are five straights worthy of the name, two are reasonably long, but they are not Baku long, or even like the two straights in Sepang last weekend. Super clipping shouldn’t be a big issue.

Being a slower track, with less to do with power and battery deployment, will suit some cars more than others. Those lacking in straight line speed will be more competitive, such as Ferrari, Williams and Aston Martin. McLaren will be happy to see no really long straights, but they will not enjoy the 90 degree corners, and we shall just have to wait and see how the Mercedes goes.

Big Upgrade

Their big upgrade introduced last weekend didn’t work as expected. The car was slower, when they expected to be 0.3s faster. Toto Wolff said that it was draggy on the straights and slower in the slow corners. They still managed to get Antonelli home in second place, but they were 4th and 8th in qualifying. A repeat of that, on a street circuit, would harm their prospects.

Being a street circuit means that overtaking is difficult and grid position is important. The pole sitter has won seven of the last ten races here. The attrition rate in those races has been 3.40, but the last two saw just one. Of course, the attrition rate in 2026 has been high, at 3.81 across the sixteen races so far.

Driver Records

Having got his first win of the season, Max Verstappen will now try and get his first ever win in Singapore. He has had two second places and a third. Red Bull have had just the one win in the turbo hybrid era and that was with the street-meister, Sergio Perez.

Lewis Hamilton has four wins and in total, we have six previous Singapore winners on the grid. Hamilton (4), Alonso (2), Perez, Sainz, Norris and Russell. In the turbo hybrid era, Mercedes have had five wins, Ferrari three, and Red Bull and McLaren one each. For the last six races here, we have had six different winners. If that trend is to continue it will likely be Antonelli, Verstappen, Piastri or Leclerc.

Ferrari have tended to go well here and Leclerc has had two second place finishes and two pole positions in Singapore. Piastri was third last year, Antonelli fifth on his track debut last year.

2026 Singapore GP: The Weather

The Marina Bay circuit is only 183 miles away from the Sepang track which hosted last weekend’s race. The weather tends to be very much the same. Hot, humid and with a high chance of tropical downpours.

These downpours tend to happen in the hottest part of the day, late afternoon, and we usually get away with a dry race, but it has been wet. A floodlit race with rain was predicted to be dangerous, with spray and floodlights making visibility poor, but it was OK. It was just a wet track with walls all around, that was the problem.

Thunderstorms

For what it is worth, the forecast for this weekend is for 32 degrees all three days, and a 90% chance of thunderstorms. Saturday and Sunday evenings only have a 25% chance of thunderstorms. The high temperatures and high humidity make this a very physically demanding race and I expect it will be recommended that cool vests are used.

That might be a problem for Mercedes’ drivers. Apparently, due to cost cap limits, Mercedes have not developed their cool vests. Russell didn’t wear one last week, and there was some mocking of the team for having so little cash left, that they do not have a working heat vest.

Development Wars

It would be a surprise if we see much more than track specific parts this weekend. The Marina Bay circuit is a bit of an outlier with its abundance of slow corners. It is also a sprint race weekend which are not great in terms of the amount of practice time to evaluate new parts. We have seen upgrades introduced in sprint race weekends before, but I am not expecting much this weekend.

The last of the big upgrades are much more likely at the USGP. Haas have said that they will have an upgrade, but only on Bearman’s car. Kimi Antonelli has said that George will run the old car set up this weekend and that he will have the upgraded car, but with a new front wing which wasn’t ready last week. That might explain why their upgrade didn’t work.

2026 Singapore GP: Team-by-Team

Merecedes

They have had a few days to go through the data to try and work out why their upgrade didn’t work as expected. Was it just track specific? Or do they have a correlation problem? The fact that this is sprint race weekend means that they have just one practice session to perhaps try a back-to-back test with their old parts, if they have any. They introduced their upgrade just as the old car was reaching ‘end of life’ in terms of key parts. It is not an ideal situation.

The team believed that the upgrade was producing the expected downforce, but not in the right places. Their cars were struggling in the slow corners and on the straights. If they are still struggling in slow corners, they are not going to enjoy this track.

Some people think it may have had something to do with the very rough tarmac at Sepang. That may explain the slow corner performance, but the straight-line losses? Antonelli said that the car has struggled on tracks with older tarmac surfaces.

More Drag

It may be as simple as more downforce equals more drag. Whatever downforce they have added is not aerodynamically efficient. They are losing more to drag than gaining in corners with the extra downforce.

I would think that the tarmac theory holds water in explaining the slow corner struggles, and that the straight-line losses are down to inefficient aerodynamics. If so, they have a problem. They have spent a lot of money making new parts. The new parts are not working as expected. To go back to the old design means manufacturing new ‘old parts’, which costs more money, which they don’t have.

All that said, it is all relative to the opposition. Their car was poor by their standards in Malaysia, but they were very close to a 2nd and 3rd place finish. I expect the car to be better this weekend, but maybe not the best.

Grid Penalty

George Russell is still due to take a grid penalty for a new PU. Mercedes will be introducing their ADUO power units at the USGP in Texas in two weeks’ time. Russell was hoping to get his new PU then, but, if the PU that failed at Sepang cannot be repaired and reused, he needs to take a penalty here. Maybe he should have bitten the bullet and taken a hit in Baku?

The team have now confirmed that they are to run a back-to-back test to compare the old parts to the new ones. They have also confirmed that Russell will have to take a new PU this weekend and will have to start at the back of the grid. Not a great state of affairs for the team, and another disaster for Russell. Antonelli has a new front wing to go with last week’s upgrade.

Ferrari

Yes, they made a mess of strategy in Malaysia last week. Yes, they ended up 3rd and 4th in the race, but were flattered by Russell’s late retirement, and helped by the safety cars. It was classic Ferrari. They just make things hard for themselves, but could they find redemption around the streets of Singapore?

This is a track on which Ferrari have done well. They have dropped the ball here as well, but since the track was introduced in 2008, Ferrari have won four times and have won three of the last nine. In the turbo hybrid era Ferrari have had five pole positions from ten races. Two for Leclerc, two for Vettel and one for Sainz. Mercedes have had four, and McLaren one. Red Bull got none.

Hamstrung

Ferrari have been hamstrung in the last two races by the long straight at Baku, and the two long straights in Sepang. This track shouldn’t be as tough for them in that department. Leclerc is very handy around street tracks like Baku, Monaco and Singapore. He has nine poles at those three tracks. He has picked up poles on the faux street circuits of Miami, Las Vegas and Melbourne.

He managed to qualify second in Baku, despite the long straight hindering his chances. This is a track where track position is very important and if Leclerc can string a street circuit special together in qualifying, maybe he can be the seventh different winner in seven years in Singapore.

McLaren

It wasn’t so long ago that McLaren were the team to beat. Three poles from four races and two race wins in Hungary and the Netherlands. They were two tracks that played to the car’s strengths, but back on tracks with long straights like Monza, Baku and Sepang, they have been out of the frame.

Norris did get pole in Madrid, and was robbed of the win by the VSC, but that was another corner rich circuit with little in the way of long straights.

This track has more in the way of straights, not overly long, but it lacks the kind of long duration, medium and fast corners on which the McLaren is strong in. Madrid suited their car better than this one will. The corners here are mostly short duration ones. Thiers is a Goldilocks car. It needs everything to be just right, and it doesn’t look like being that here.

Red Bull

I said in last week’s preview that it looked like it was Red Bull’s turn to win, and they did. Ferrari won a couple of races after their Barcelona upgrade. The McLaren won a couple of races after their upgrade, and now Red Bull have won after their upgrade. If the theme continues, Red Bull should be winning again, but on a track that has not been their best?

On this year’s calendar, the only circuits where Max has not won at are Singapore, and now, the Madring. The Marina Bay Circuit is his weakest F1 track. A coincidence? I don’t think so. Verstappen is not at his best on street circuits. He has said as much. Perez had his best results when he was Verstappen’s teammate on the street circuits. It is not that he can’t win on them, but he is better on proper, purpose-built racetracks.

Consistent Max

Verstappen is the most consistent driver on the grid right now. Antonelli is right up there, but in the last seven, it is 4-3 to Max. I would be surprised if he wasn’t on the podium again, and he might win, but he is a 3.50 shot this weekend and was 9.00 last weekend. The good ship value may have sailed.

The fact that Hadjar has been right up there is the big tell that the Red Bull is now a very good car, but good enough for Verstappen to break his Singapore Hoodoo?

Verstappen made a very poor start in Malaysia, losing the lead to both Mercedes. It is not the first time the Red Bull has been not great off the line. He was able to recover the situation on a big, wide track like Sepang, but overtaking here is a different matter.

Racing Bulls

Now with some clear air between themselves on 90 points, and Alpine on 68. They have scored points in twelve of the last thirteen races and had seven double points finishes. In a very tight part of the grid, they have been very consistent, despite having a driver swap to cope with for three races. They have to be fancied to keep on scoring this weekend.

It is another new track for Lindblad to learn, but he was 6th in Monaco and 7th in Baku, so his street racing credentials are good so far. Lawson was 9th when he raced here in 2024, and 12th last year. The Racing Bulls are good everywhere, and this should be no different.

Alpine

It’s all gone a bit wrong since Gasly’s pole position at Monza. He managed to finish 7th there, but the team have not scored a point in the last two races. Racing Bulls have pulled out a twenty-two-point lead over them in the race for 5th place in the Constructors’ Championship. Alpine’s qualifying pace is good and they should be in the hunt for points, but they need to cut out the mistakes.

Haas

After picking up a double points finish in Baku, it was back to reality at Sepang. They were flattered in Baku by the two Alpines crashing out, Piastri dropping out of the top 10, and Norris’ DNF. The only reason to think that Haas will be scoring points here is that Bearman’s car will have an upgrade. Significant attrition would be another.

Audi

Got their ninth 11th place finish of the season at Sepang. It has been their natural place in the pecking order all season. Hulkenberg’s average finishing position is exactly 11th, Bortoleto 11.87.

They introduced their last big update at Baku but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference to where they are in the pecking order. They are rarely far off the top ten, but the Racing Bulls and/or Alpine’s are usually that bit quicker.

Hulkenberg has had four top 10s here in the past. A slower circuit is more favourable for teams with less powerful engines, so that may edge Audi closer to the points this weekend, but the same goes for a number of teams.

Williams

Another team who introduced their big upgrade at Baku, and while it looked initially promising, it hasn’t been a big step forward. The car has lost a lot of weight and that helped Sainz to 9th in Baku qualifying and 10th in the race, but they struggled again last week.

Alex Albon crashed out in Baku and retired with a gearbox issue last weekend. Sainz was 7th for Williams last year and won the race from pole for Ferrari in 2024, so he likes the track. He will be worth keeping an eye on. Sainz is easily outperforming Albon since the upgrade was put on the cars.

Aston Martin

Alonso picked up some unexpected points in Malaysia. The car just clicked with the track conditions in qualifying. Both cars made it into Q2 for the first time in 2026. It was expected that would be the high point of the weekend but despite starting on the dry tyre on a wet track, Alonso hung on and caught the safety car at a good moment and used his experience to make progress up the order, finishing a seasons best 8th. Lance Stroll finished a season best 12th.

It will have given the team a boost coming into a race that Alonso has targeted as one of his best chances to score more points. He finished 8th here last year for Aston Martin, and with the slower nature of the track hiding some of their weaknesses, he could be right.

The team are now just five points behind Williams in the battle for 9th place. It is hardly the peak of motorsport, but way better than looked likely even just a few races ago. The Sainz vs. Alonso battle could be very interesting this weekend.

Cadillac

The only team without any points in 2026. When the points scoring system was expanded to allow points to be awarded all the way down to tenth place, it meant everyone should get a chance to score at least a couple of points, just by luck if nothing else. The last team to draw a blank was Haas in 2021.

Perez was very close in Monaco, crossing the line in 10th, but picked up a penalty for incorrect positioning of his car on the grid. That may have been their one chance. Perez has only missed out on points here twice from nine starts, but this looks nailed on the be his third pointless race in Singapore.

2026 Singapore GP: Summary

Since the Barcelona GP in mid-June, we have had ten GPs and six different winners from four different teams. It has turned into quite an interesting season, even if Mercedes had effectively won it in the first third of the season. No one team has had a sustained challenge to Mercedes’ Championship hopes, but it is making the races more unpredictable, but not impossible.

We move to another type of track this weekend. Yes, things are spoiled by having a sprint race. A sprint race on a track on which overtaking is difficult, with car bending walls all around it? Does anyone think that the drivers are going to take any risks in the sprint, with qualifying for the proper race just a couple of hours later?

Interesting Qualifying & Race

But once we get the sprint bollocks out of the way, it should be an interesting qualifying and race. There are question marks all over the place. Can Mercedes sort out their upgrade? What can Russell do from the back of the grid? Will Verstappen be able to overcome his relatively poor record in Singapore? Could Ferrari actually put together a cohesive race weekend together, and if so, which driver could lead their charge? Can McLaren find their pace again? Can some of the slower cars have a day in the sun?

I am going to have two bets for the GP at this stage, but it has proven to be more prudent to be patient and wait until Sunday before placing the majority of the bets. I will go for two drivers who are track proven. Leclerc has often shown great qualifying pace on street circuits and that is more than half the battle, but Hamilton is a reasonable alternative. It is always hard to choose which Ferrari driver to back.

2026 Singapore GP Tip: 1 point e/w Charles Leclerc to win @ 7.00 generally available (1/5 the odds 1-3)

I want to have a go with a lower midfield driver to get a good result. Alonso was very much on the radar, but he is just 2.50 to finish in the points on Sunday. He has had three points finishes from sixteen GPs. Carlos Sainz has had four points finishes and he is a 9.00 shot. It is a no brainer.

2026 Singapore GP Tip: 1 point Carlos Sainz to finish in the points @ 9.00 with Betvictor

-JamesPunt