Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari will do "whatever it takes" as a team to beat Max Verstappen in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix. Verstappen will start on pole for the second weekend in a row with Charles Leclerc on the front row and Hamilton in behind in third, with all three drivers desperate to win their second races of 2026. The tight confines of the Marina Bay Street Circuit means overtaking is difficult, so the start will be crucial when the lights go out at 1pm (build-up from 11.30am), live on Sky Sports F1.
"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." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Having topped Q1 and Q2 in Qualifying, Hamilton headed into Q3 as favourite but could not put a completely clean lap together so was beaten by Verstappen and Leclerc by just one tenth.
"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 is concerned about the start after a "horrendous" launch in Saturday's Singapore Sprint which saw him lose out to George Russell before the Mercedes driver crashed at the end of the lap. It was reminiscent of last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, but both starts were in the wet and Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix is expected to be dry.
However, even Verstappen's most recent starts have not been good in comparison to his rivals. Although he did not lose positions by the end of the first lap in the last three dry starts in Baku, Madrid and Monza, his initial getaway off the line was, at best, average in all three Grands Prix and he was forced to fight hard into Turn 1 itself to retain his starting position. Given the first corner in Singapore does not require the drivers to brake hard, Verstappen will not be able to recover from a poor getaway on Sunday, particularly if the Ferraris start quickly.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
