After trailing the Ferraris in Q1, Verstappen put in a formidable Q3 first lap that went untroubled for the rest of the session. Verstappen himself couldn’t improve on his second run. This marks Verstappen’s first Singapore pole and sets him up perfectly to end his winless drought at this circuit tomorrow. Behind him, Charles Leclerc had pace when it mattered most. After trailing his teammate in the sprint and struggling to match his times in qualifying, Leclerc’s final run was enough to pip Lewis Hamilton to second by just 0.069s. After topping the timesheets in Q1 and Q2, Hamilton later stated that his car went “over the edge” in Q3 and had a narrow operating window. A slight error on his final lap in Q3 cost him a shot at pole, and Leclerc later relegated him to third.
Despite introducing a significant upgrade package in Malaysia, Mercedes has struggled for pace all weekend; Kimi Antonelli ended Q1 a lowly 12th but recovered to P4 in the final part of qualifying. With his teammate and title rival starting at the back of the grid, Antonelli is well placed to build his championship advantage on Sunday. Lando Norris qualified fifth and later voiced concerns about the MCL-40’s capricious handling, saying his result reflected the car’s one-lap pace. George Russell qualified sixth but will start 21st after taking a fresh power unit following his retirement in Malaysia. Oscar Piastri will therefore start sixth, a welcome boost given the McLaren is, by Piastri’s own admission, the “third or fourth” quickest car in Singapore.
Pierre Gasly qualified eighth ahead of Liam Lawson, who continued his commendable progress with a ninth Q3 appearance of the season. Arvid Lindblad recovered from his sprint race woes to take tenth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Ollie Bearman. Esteban Ocon survived a collision with the barriers on his outlap in Q1 to qualify 13th, ahead of Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto, Fernando Alonso and Alex Albon. Lance Stroll suffered a lockup in Q1 en route to 19th ahead of the two Cadillacs.
After a mechanical issue brought his car to a halt in the sprint, Isack Hadjar’s mechanics worked frantically to fix it in time for qualifying. Sadly, their efforts were in vain as Hadjar immediately spluttered to a halt with engine and gearbox problems. Having failed to set a time and damaged his engine, Hadjar will start tomorrow's race last.
Ferrari undoubtedly left time on the table in qualifying, and with Verstappen occupying the best seat in the house, Ferrari will have serious work to do if the aim is to pressure him in the race.
