TGR Haas F1 Team heads to Singapore for Round 17 of the 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, where the Marina Bay Street Circuit will host the sixth and final Sprint Race of the season — the first Sprint Race in the event’s history.
The Singapore Grand Prix joined the Formula 1 calendar in 2008 as the sport’s first night race, with powerful floodlights illuminating the 3-mile circuit past some of the city-state’s most recognizable landmarks. This year’s Sprint Race, however, will break with that tradition, taking place in daytime conditions — the first Formula 1 race activity held in daylight at Marina Bay since the event’s inception.
Haas Head of Car Engineering Hoagy Nidd identified brake management, energy deployment, and tire care as the primary technical challenges facing the team. “Singapore is utterly dominated by low-speed corners, and similar to Malaysia, it’s very warm there, so it can make brake management a real challenge early on in the race,” Nidd said. “The weather can get extreme in the evening, which can often impact a lot of the sessions, and I believe energy management is going to be a bit of a challenge. It tends to be quite a long and slow race in Singapore, factually speaking, and it can get close to the full two-hour mark.”
Oliver Bearman arrives at Marina Bay with a positive reference point, having qualified and finished ninth at the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix. “We know this upgrade is working, and we’re still finetuning it to get it into the window, but I feel much better placed to fight for points than in the middle of the year,” Bearman said. “Singapore is an awesome circuit and a spectacular event, it’s a street circuit like no other, and I’m quite fond of a night race.”
Teammate Esteban Ocon, who classified 18th in Singapore a year ago, expressed confidence heading into the weekend on the back of recent form. “We know it’s a tough race inside the cockpit with the conditions, but I’m confident that if the car is working well like it has the last few weekends, we can be in the mix,” Ocon said. “It’s a great feeling to do well in Singapore under the lights, so we’ll aim to be on it straight away to have a good sprint weekend.”
The extreme humidity, proximity of the barriers, and high track evolution make Marina Bay one of the most demanding venues on the calendar for both machinery and drivers, with Nidd noting the race frequently tests the limits of endurance. “It becomes a real race of attrition for the drivers, as we have seen for the past couple of years, so this is a weekend tough on both teams and drivers, but one which is very rewarding if you get a good result.”