Singapore Grand Prix 2026: First Sprint, Start Time and Marina Bay Schedule
The 2026 Singapore Grand Prix runs October 9 to 11 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, round 17 of 23. For the first time Singapore hosts a sprint, the last one of the season, on Saturday at 17:00 local. The night race starts Sunday October 11 at 20:00 local, which is 14:00 CEST, 13:00 BST and 8 a.m. ET, over 62 laps of the 4.927 km track. George Russell won in 2025. Sources: Formula1.com, RacingNews365, AsiaOne.
The context
Marina Bay adds a sprint to its night race
Formula 1 arrives at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 9 to 11, 2026, for round 17 of 23. It closes a triple-header that starts in Baku on Saturday September 26 and continues with the rescheduled Bahrain Grand Prix, run at Sepang in Malaysia on October 4 after the original race in the Gulf was called off. Three races in three weekends across three time zones, then Singapore, which is hard enough on its own.
The novelty this year is on Saturday. Singapore hosts its first sprint, the last sprint of the 2026 season: sprint qualifying on Friday night at 20:30 local, the 21-lap sprint on Saturday at 17:00, then qualifying for the grand prix at 21:00. The race itself starts on Sunday October 11 at 20:00 local, which is 14:00 in central Europe, 13:00 in the UK and 8 a.m. on the US East Coast, over 62 laps of the 4.927 km layout.
Singapore is where Formula 1 invented the night race, in 2008, and it remains one of the toughest events for drivers: the heat and humidity barely drop after dark, the lap is long and bumpy, and the walls are close. Safety cars are common. With the 2026 rules, which replaced DRS with active aerodynamics and moved the power unit much closer to a 50-50 split with electric power, nobody has yet raced these cars here.
George Russell won the 2025 edition for Mercedes, ahead of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. He returns as the closest challenger to his teammate Kimi Antonelli, who led the championship by 81 points after Madrid. Baku and Sepang will reshape the gap before the cars reach Marina Bay, and with sprint points on offer, Singapore is worth more than a normal weekend.
Sources: Formula1.com, RacingNews365, AsiaOne, Sky Sports, Wikipedia.
People also ask
True or false?
2026 is the first sprint weekend in the race's history, and the last sprint of the season. (Formula1.com)
Lights out at 20:00 local, a tradition since the first F1 night race in 2008. (Formula1.com)
Singapore kept its October date. What changed is the calendar before it: Bahrain was reinstated at Sepang on October 4, making a triple-header. (Sky Sports)
He led by 81 points after Madrid with nine rounds left. Whether the maths works in Singapore depends on Baku and Sepang. (Formula1.com)
Yes, in October 2025, ahead of Verstappen and Norris. (Wikipedia)