After three practice sessions dominated by Ferrari, and with a Red Bull further down the grid than usual, it’s time for qualifying at the new Singapore layout. Will championship leader Max Verstappen score his team’s first pole at the track since 2013? Or will Carlos Sainz achieve his fifth career Saturday P1
First out on the dry track were the Ferraris, followed by the McLarens and the Alfa Romeos, in what will definitely a traffic-packed Q1. The first timed lap was put in by Kevin Magnussen in 1:33.200s, with Lando Norris the first driver to lap in the 1:32s.
Leclerc and Russell cycle in P1 ahead of Norris ten minutes into the session, as Ocon, Alonso, Albon, Tsunoda and Gasly are yet to complete a lap under the stars. The Mercedes driver’s best effort is a 1:32.478s, whereas Alonso’s first lap sees him shoot to P5.
Logan Sargeant will be investigated for impeding Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. With five minutes to go in the session, Sainz leads from Verstappen and Leclerc in 1:32.339s, whereas Stroll, the Williams drivers and the Alfa Romeo drivers are in the bottom five.
Esteban Ocon scrapes the wall at Turn 5 while on a quest to further secure his Q2 spot. In the final heated moments of the session Yuki Tsunoda goes fastest in 1:31.991s, proving the significance of track evolution, with Perez and Hulkenberg second and third fastest, and Lawson and Magnussen rounding up the Top 5.
A red flag was brought out by Lance Stroll heavily crashing into the wall at the final corner while on his last attempt in the session. In spite of the huge impact, which wrecked his car and saw Norris narrowly avoid a wheel that fell off the Aston Martin and came back on track, the Canadian driver radioed that he is OK and was able to walk away on his own from the crash.
Max Verstappen will be investigated after the end of the session for impeding the Mercedes drivers after stopping his car at the end of the pit lane, as well as an another impeding incident involving “several cars” between Turn 16 and Turn 19.
Out in Q1: Bottas, Piastri, Sargeant, Zhou, Stroll.
A break to rebuild the barriers impacted by the crash and to remove fluids on the track was needed ahead of Q2, which began at 9:53pm local.
First cars on track this time were the Red Bulls, followed by the Haas drivers. The two-time World Champion signs the first lap of the segment in 1:32.307s, which is bested shortly after by Magnussen, Norris and Sainz.
Photo credits: Scuderia Ferrari
Sergio Perez scrapes the floor of his car on the curbs as Fernando Alonso jumps up to P1 with a 1:31.835s, 0.058s better than Sainz’s previous best lap.
A third impeding investigation of the day is issued for Max Verstappen, which obstacled Yuki Tsunoda on a fast run.
With three minutes to go, a consistently fast George Russell is leading ahead of the final runs. In the bottom five are Perez, Hulkenberg, Lawson, Albon and Tsunoda, with Verstappen on the line in P10.
Perez brings out a yellow flag for a spin at Turn 3. Liam Lawson in his third Formula One qualifying bumps out Verstappen by only 0.007s to reach his first ever Q3, as Sainz shoots up to P1 ahead of Russell. The Kiwi driver will be the only Red Bull-affiliated driver to start in the top ten in Singapore.
Charles Leclerc was noted for failing to slow under the yellow flags following Checo’s spin, but ultimately no further investigation was required.
Out in Q2: Verstappen, Gasly, Perez, Albon, Tsunoda.
The earliest benchmark of Q3 is set by Kevin Magnussen in 1:32.396s, later improved by Alonso. McLaren’s Lando Norris is the first driver to go under the 1:32s, but the Ferraris move up to secure a provisional front row lockout, with Sainz signing a 1:31.170s and Leclerc 0.250s behind after their first attempt.
The Spanish driver will definitely try to gun for what could be his second pole position in a row, having secured the top spot in Monza as well in front of the Tifosi. In spite of a very strong Saturday so far, Russell’s first Q3 lap is only good enough for P4.
The drivers all returned on track for a final set of laps with three minutes and thirty seconds left on the clock. Sainz signed the fastest first sector, Leclerc the second, but ultimately is Sainz the one to set the fastest time of the day in 1:30.984s.
George Russell will start alongside him, only 0.072s behind him, with Leclerc in third 0.079s apart from his teammate. Norris will line up in fourth as McLaren continue to make great gains, and Lewis Hamilton rounds out the top five.
Haas had a memorable day as Magnussen qualified a stunning P6. Nico Hülkenberg backed that up with
