Verstappen clinches pole position in Singapore Sprint Qualifying ahead of Russell

Max Verstappen clinched pole position for the Singapore Sprint, beating Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in a busy session under the lights at the Marina Bay Circuit.

With four teams seemingly in the mix after a single hour of Free Practice, Verstappen timed his final lap to perfection to eclipse the efforts of each of his rivals, ending the session with a time of 1m 31.156s.

His lap on the soft tyres left him 0.120s clear of Russell, with Leclerc a further tenth back in P3, but the Dutchman’s result will not be confirmed until he has visited the stewards for a potential yellow flag infringement in SQ1.

The McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took P4 and P5 respectively, with the Aussie just 0.055s adrift of Leclerc’s time. Lewis Hamilton was sixth in the second Ferrari ahead of Kimi Antonelli – the leader of the Drivers’ Championship – and Racing Bull's Liam Lawson.

Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly completed the top 10 for Red Bull and Alpine with both having lap times deleted in SQ3.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto finished in P11 after a late lap from Russell knocked him out of the top 10, while the Audi of Nico Hulkenberg followed in P12. Ollie Bearman (Haas), Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Esteban Ocon (Haas) occupied P13 to P16 on the timesheets.

Arvid Lindblad, who previously hinted he would approach this weekend cautiously after crashing at other street circuits, narrowly missed out on a spot in SQ2 and settled for P17, just ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

They enjoyed a margin of half a second over Williams and Cadillac, with Alex Albon leading the backmarkers in P19 as Valtteri Bottas tucked in just behind. Carlos Sainz will line up on the back row with Sergio Perez for Saturday’s 21-lap affair, the Mexican having caused a red flag after finding the barrier in the opening minutes.

AS IT HAPPENED

SQ1 – Verstappen sets the pace as Perez crashes

The Marina Bay Circuit’s bumpy surface and humid weather make it one of the greatest tests on the calendar, and the addition of the Sprint creates an even greater challenge. It meant that after just one hour of Free Practice, it was time for Sprint Qualifying, with Russell heading into the session as the driver to beat.

When SQ1 got underway under the lights – with everyone set to run the mandatory medium tyres – Cadillac led a long queue of cars out of the pit lane as the drivers prepared to tackle vastly different conditions compared to FP1.

It didn’t take long for the first yellow flag to be waved after Perez crashed into the tyre barrier at Turn 4, damaging his front wing. In an attempt to make it back to his garage, he dragged the component under his car and sent debris flying onto the racing line, resulting in a pause in the action with six minutes remaining.

As everyone returned to the pits under the red flag, only a handful of drivers had set a representative time, suggesting that there would be a frenetic conclusion to the first segment of Sprint Qualifying. Of those, Hamilton led the timesheets with 1m 33.748s – around 1.5s adrift of Russell’s fastest lap in FP1.

Replays also showed that Verstappen – one of the many yet to complete a competitive lap – seemed to overtake the Ferrari under yellow flags, which was noted by the stewards and will be investigated after the session.

With the clock rapidly ticking down, the majority opted for a single push, which unsurprisingly led to a flurry of improvements in the final minutes. Leclerc surged into P2 behind his team mate, followed by the Mercedes pair before Audi’s Hulkenberg snatched P4.

Norris was the next to move into the top three, but the second McLaren of Piastri bailed out of his first effort and faced immense pressure to deliver as he lingered near the drop zone. Although the Red Bulls were in a similar situation, Verstappen was able to post the quickest time of 1m 33.477s, with Hadjar and Piastri also progressing.

At the other end of the order, Lindblad was knocked out alongside Stroll and Williams’ Albon (P19), who reported that the car felt "completely different to practice”, and Sainz (P22). It was another early exit for Cadillac too, Bottas in P20 while Perez wound up in P21.

Knocked out: Lindblad, Stroll, Albon, Bottas, Perez, Sainz

SQ2 – Ferrari fly as Russell delivers under pressure

With every team bolting on the medium compound once again, Verstappen flirted with the walls on his way to setting an early benchmark of 1m 32.724s, making the most of the track evolution to significantly trim his earlier time.

That was initially enough for him to clear Mercedes’ Antonelli and Russell, but Hamilton’s first attempt saw him overturn the Dutchman’s advantage before Leclerc went even faster, posting a 1m 32.457s.

Hamilton reported that “a couple of big snaps” towards the end of the lap made him lose some time, suggesting that there was more performance for the Ferrari driver to find. Someone else chasing improvement was Russell, who suffered a lock-up and had no choice but to go again on his suboptimal tyres, hoping to move up the order from P8.

Hadjar charged into fifth place as Lawson and Colapinto also advanced, demoting Russell into the elimination spots. However, he managed to wrestle his car into P4 when it mattered, sending the Alpine driver down to P11.

Colapinto therefore missed the cut for the final segment of Sprint Qualifying, as did Hulkenberg, Bearman, Bortoleto, Alonso and Ocon.

Knocked out: Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Bearman, Bortoleto, Alonso, Ocon

SQ3 – Verstappen secures pole with last-gasp lap

The light turned green at the end of the pit lane for the final shootout, but Ferrari, Red Bull and the remaining midfield stars of Lawson and Gasly elected to bide their time and wait in their respective garages for a little longer.

That gave Norris the space he needed to push the soft tyres to their limit and take the top spot with a 1m 31.587s, with Piastri close behind in P2 as neither Mercedes could take the fight to McLaren.

Leclerc came through to beat Norris by just 0.019s, and despite Hamilton’s best efforts, the lap time fell away from him and he could only manage P3. There was still just about enough time for Red Bull to blow everyone out of the water, which is exactly what Verstappen did in the first sector.

He carried that speed throughout the rest of the lap to seize pole position for the Sprint, with no one able to beat his final time of 1m 31.156s. Russell came closest for Mercedes and was followed by Leclerc, Piastri and Norris.

Hamilton ended up half a second adrift in sixth ahead of Antonelli, while Lawson, Hadjar and Gasly rounded out the top 10.

Key Quote

"It’s always close here in Singapore," Verstappen said. "Also your lap itself – you’re pushing as hard as you think is possible, close to the walls in places. For sure, once we bolted on the soft tyres, it felt like the car was coming alive a little bit more, but I did not expect this. Of course, very happy to be first."

What's next

With the grid decided, the drivers will line up for the Sprint at 1700 local time on Saturday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can catch the action.