Max Verstappen has taken pole for the Singapore sprint. After narrowly escaping elimination in SQ1 thanks to a red flag and trailing the Ferraris in SQ2, Verstappen strung together an impressive lap in SQ3 to take sprint pole by 0.120s over George Russell. With Marina Bay having been something of a bogey track for Verstappen in the past, this weekend could be a turning point. Verstappen was initially investigated for overtaking Lewis Hamilton under yellow flags in SQ1. However, the stewards later concluded that Verstappen slowed sufficiently under yellow-flag conditions and decided against a penalty.
There was significant controversy in SQ1. After an early red flag, the session resumed with less than six minutes remaining. The FIA later admitted an error at race control meant overtaking mode, which gives drivers maximum use of their energy, was not reactivated once the session resumed. Overtake mode was reactivated for 27 seconds before being permanently deactivated. This meant that not all drivers had access to overtake mode in the final part of SQ1.
George Russell completed an impressive recovery. After failing to set an initial banker lap in SQ1 due to the red flag, Russell had only one chance to lift himself out of the drop zone; he did just that, and after failing to set the pace in SQ2, Russell bounced back with the second-fastest time in SQ3. Charles Leclerc capitalised on Ferrari’s remaining pace in the final part of sprint qualifying to take third, ahead of the McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Lewis Hamilton was disappointed to finish sixth, while a similarly frustrated Kimi Antonelli will line up seventh.
Liam Lawson had pace throughout and landed a strong eighth ahead of Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly. His Alpine teammate Franco Colapinto will follow. Nico Hulkenberg put his free practice woes behind him to take 12thahead of Ollie Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Fernando Alonso. Esteban Ocon qualified 16th, ahead of Arvid Lindblad, who was disappointed to miss SQ2 by just a tenth of a second. Lance Stroll qualified 18th ahead of Alex Albon. A collision cost Sergio Perez his front wing in SQ1 and relegated him to 20th, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz. This isn’t the start to the weekend the championship leader would have wanted. However, with Verstappen in form, Russell in the mix, and both Ferraris in contention, tomorrow’s sprint could be a four-way fight for victory.
