George Russell crowned F1 sprint champion after last-lap crash in Singapore

George Russell's F1 adventure is going through quite a turbulent spell in recent times but at least he now has something to shout about.

In his championship battle with Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli, there was a brief flicker of life in his chances after winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

But since then it could hardly have gone worse - an engine failure at the Bahrain Grand Prix left him pointless while Antonelli claimed second at Sepang.

And in the Sprint race ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, he crashed while leading, allowing Antonelli to claim five points and extend his championship lead to 89 points with seven grands prix to go.

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Russell the new sprint king

There is consolation of sorts though for the British driver, as he is now the F1 sprint king of 2026 following the final sprint race of the season at Marina Bay.

There were six sprint races throughout 2026 in addition to Singapore, featuring in China, Miami, Canada, Britain and the Netherlands.

Across the those six races, nobody could better Russell's 34 points, with him taking wins in Shanghai, Montreal and at Zandvoort.

Russell also took fourth-place finishes In Miami and Silverstone.

Charles Leclerc matched Russell's 34 points but is placed second on countback having not won any of the sprint contests.

In third place was Lando Norris on 33 points, who was on course to become the sprint champion at Marina Bay, running in fifth behind his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

However, on the final lap, Norris lunged on the inside of turn five on his team-mate taking them both out, resulting in him finishing only eighth to collect one point.

Max Verstappen's first sprint win of the season was only good enough for seventh, while Lewis Hamilton's second place earned him fifth place.

F1 2026 Sprint Drivers' Final Standings

Mercedes also took the constructors' sprint championship after earning 65 points, pipping Ferrari - who leapfrogged McLaren in the final race to reach 61 points.

What does Russell get for sprint championship?

One crucial thing to remember here is there is no official sprint championship in F1, so while Russell is the sprint king for 2026 he isn't going to get anything for it, ditto Mercedes.

In all honesty, Russell probably doesn't care, especially given his real title hopes have crashed and burned recently.

Also, if it really was such a thing drivers care about, Norris probably wouldn't have divebombed his team-mate on the final lap knowing he could be sprint champion.

Still, it's better than nothing. Maybe there should be a small trophy or a box of Freddos or something for being the sprint king.

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Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

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