Max Verstappen claims sprint pole for Singapore Grand Prix ahead of George Russell

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has taken pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix sprint race, beating Mercedes’ George Russell by a tenth of a second. 

Feature image credit: Getty Images // Red Bull Content Pool

SQ1 

In the normal, shortened session, everyone was out early tallying up laps to increase their chances of securing a place into the top 16. 

However there was an early yellow flag for Cadillac’s Sergio Perez, who nose-dived into the fifth corner. The Mexican managed to reverse and return to the pit lane. But his front wing had become lodged underneath his car, with a chunk of it breaking off. 

As a result, race control brought out the red flag to allow the marshals to clear away the debris. After a brief stop, the session resumed with both Cadillac’s leading the pack out on the track with little over six minutes on the clock. 

At the time, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton topped the timing boards with a 1m 33.748s ahead of his teammate, Charles Leclerc. However, on his only lap of SQ1, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the fastest lap to go 0.271 seconds faster than Hamilton.

SQ1 Eliminations: 

22 – Carlos Sainz, Williams +3.899s

21 –  Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac +3.391s

20 – Sergio Perez, Cadillac +3.283s

19 – Alexander Albon, Williams +2.653s

18 – Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +2.185s

17 – Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls +1.659s

Pacesetter: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing – 1m 33.477s

Results: Singapore Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying

SQ2

There was a delay to the start of SQ2, with Race Control having to edge off a few issues with the official timing board and information. Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto was originally set for a SQ1 elimination, for example, but found himself up in 11th and through to SQ2. 

Sprint qualifying finally resumed at 11 minutes past the hour, and Verstappen soon set the benchmark pace for the field to beat: a 1m 32.724s

With under three minutes left to go, Russell came under pressure of not making it through to SQ3 after the British driver locked up coming out of the bridge into turn 13. He abandoned the lap, with time to recharge. On his final attempt, Russell could only best fourth fastest 0.368s off the pace. 

By the end of the session, the Ferrari’s topped the timing boards with Leclerc topping the timing boards, 0.316s faster than his teammate, Hamilton, with Norris rounding out the top three. 

SQ2 Elimination: 

16 – Esteban Ocon, Haas +2.122s

15 – Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin +1.488s

14 – Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi +1.220s

13 – Oliver Bearman, Haas +1.177s

12 – Nico Hulkenberg, Audi +1.174s

11 – Franco Colapinto, Alpine +1.003s

Pacesetter: Charles Leclerc, Ferrari – 1m 32.246s

Weather report: the latest forecast ahead of F1’s Singapore Grand Prix

SQ3

In the final third of sprint qualifying, half of the field went out straight away with the bottom five waiting until nearer the halfway point of the third before heading out onto the Singapore track. Of the first runners, Norris put in the provisional sprint pole position, just before Leclerc pipped the Briton to the post.

Hamilton spent his flying lap wringing the neck of his Ferrari, as it tried to buck from underneath him. However, sixth fastest was the best he could muster, 0.546s behind the final pacesetter.

Having resolved an issue at the beginning of SQ3, Verstappen stormed out to snatch the sprint pole position by 0.120 seconds ahead of Russell, who finished second ahead of Leclerc, who rounded out the top three. 

Norris couldn’t improve and could only best fifth overall as his teammate, Oscar Piastri, pipped the defending world champion to go fourth.  

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli led the bottom four, besting seventh, 0.693s behind Verstappen’s best, ahead of Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, in eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively. 

Top 10

10 – Pierre Gasly, Alpine – No Time Set // Track Limits

9 – Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing – No Time Set // Track Limits

8 – Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls +1.185s

7 – Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes +0.693s

6 – Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari +0.546s

5 – Lando Norris, McLaren +0.431s

4 – Oscar Piastri, McLaren +0.298s

3 – Charles Leclerc, Ferrari +0.243s

2 – George Russell, Mercedes +0.120s

1 – Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing – 1m 31.156s

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