The Sprint had already been delayed by about half an hour after a heavy downpour left standing water at Turns 2 and 3. After a Safety Car start and formation laps, the field took a standing start on intermediates, with parts of the circuit much wetter than others.

Russell made the better start and took the lead from Verstappen into Turn 1. He held it around the lap, but at Turn 19, the final corner, he ran slightly wide on the exit, put a wheel on the painted white line and lost the rear of the car. The Mercedes hit the wall on the outside, slid back across the track and came to rest near the timing line as he completed the opening lap. Russell climbed out unhurt, and the Safety Car was deployed.

Verstappen inherited the lead and, after the restart, pulled away as the track dried to win by 2.591 seconds from Lewis Hamilton, with Charles Leclerc third. It was one of several incidents in a chaotic Sprint: Lance Stroll, Gabriel Bortoleto, Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon also retired, and the two McLarens collided. Our guide to how the Safety Car works explains why the field was neutralised after Russell’s crash.

Speaking to F1 TV afterwards, Russell took full responsibility, and his explanation was revealing:

“It’s a very silly mistake – overly confident,” he added. “I think it’s my first crash of the year. It’s annoying to happen from that position.” Elsewhere he called it “a silly mistake with big consequences.”

The detail about the battery matters. Under the 2026 rules, close to half of a car’s power comes from electrical deployment, and Russell’s account suggests an unexpected surge on corner exit was enough to push him onto the slippery paint. It’s the kind of moment Max Verstappen has in mind when he says the 2026 cars feel unnatural to drive; see our piece on why Verstappen wants V8 engines back. Painted lines are notoriously slippery in the wet because they have far less grip than the asphalt around them, which is why drivers are taught to avoid them.

Russell came to Singapore 84 points behind his Mercedes team-mate after a power unit failure cost him a podium at Sepang. Singapore, with its Sprint, was his best chance to cut that gap: 33 points were available to each driver. Leading the Sprint, he had a real chance to take points off Antonelli; instead the gap went the other way.

Then came the second blow. Russell qualified sixth for the Grand Prix, saying during the session that he was “smelling fire”, but Mercedes changed his power unit, which means he starts Sunday’s race from the back of the grid. Overtaking at Marina Bay is notoriously hard, so even with a fast car, a big points haul looks unlikely. Antonelli starts fourth.

Two weekends in a row, then, Russell has lost a strong result late or early: an engine failure five laps from the end at Sepang, and a crash on the first lap in Singapore. “Exceptionally unlikely” was his own verdict on his title chances last week. After Saturday, it’s hard to argue. For how the Sprint format works, see our guide to F1 Sprint weekends, and for Sepang, our race report.

This isn’t the first time Marina Bay has bitten Russell. In 2023, running third on the final lap of the Grand Prix and pushing to pass Lando Norris for second, he clipped the wall at Turn 10 and crashed out, throwing away a podium. Two years later, in 2025, he got it all right, winning the Singapore Grand Prix from pole. Saturday adds a third chapter.

Singapore is one of the hardest circuits on the calendar for exactly this reason: walls all the way round, little run-off and, when it rains, a surface that changes from corner to corner. Our guide to what causes crashes in motor racing explains why the smallest error is so costly on a street circuit.