Verstappen beats the Ferraris to Singapore GP pole as Russell set for back-row start

Verstappen converts weekend dominance into Singapore pole

Max Verstappen took pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix with a lap of 1:31.373 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, beating Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by 0.054 seconds. The official FIA classification confirms Verstappen topped a qualifying session in which Leclerc improved on his final run but fell just short, while Lewis Hamilton completed a Ferrari two-three, 0.123 seconds off pole. ⁵

The Race reported that Verstappen's first Q3 flying lap proved decisive, as several leading drivers failed to improve on their final runs, and that the Dutchman's opening effort had withstood Ferrari's challenge after Hamilton led both Q1 and Q2. Crash.net noted the pole was Verstappen's 50th in Formula 1 and his second in as many days, following on from sprint qualifying and sprint victory earlier in the weekend. ¹⁶

BBC Sport's F1 correspondent Andrew Benson wrote from Singapore that Verstappen arrived fresh from his and Red Bull's first win of the season in Malaysia and has looked the man to beat all weekend. Verstappen was quoted saying: "This was the one I really wanted. The car has been really strong all weekend." ²

Leclerc told BBC Sport he believed pole had been within reach: "I think there was a potential to be on pole today but Max just did a better job." Hamilton, who had set the pace in Q1 and Q2, described his Q3 as "another difficult Q3" and said he had adjusted brake balance for the final part of qualifying, which he thought had "just tipped it a little over the edge". ²

The full qualifying order at Marina Bay

The FIA's official classification lists Verstappen (Red Bull) on pole in 1:31.373, followed by Leclerc and Hamilton (both Ferrari), Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes, +0.189s), Lando Norris (McLaren, +0.339s) and Russell (Mercedes, +0.374s). Oscar Piastri was seventh in the second McLaren at +0.487s, with Pierre Gasly (Alpine) eighth, Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) ninth and rookie Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 10th, the last of those 1.408 seconds off pole. ⁵

Nico Hulkenberg was the quickest driver eliminated in Q2 for Audi, ahead of the Haas pair of Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz's Williams, Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto and Alpine's Franco Colapinto, who clipped the barrier at Turn 17 on his final lap, as reported by The Race and Crash.net. ¹⁶

Both Aston Martins fell in the first segment: The Race reported Fernando Alonso, who reported a turbo issue, qualified 17th ahead of Alex Albon's Williams and Lance Stroll. The two Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas were the slowest drivers to set times, with Red Bull's Isack Hadjar last having recorded no time at all. ¹⁵

The Race detailed Q1 troubles including Esteban Ocon locking up at Turn 13 and reporting a braking problem, and Hadjar suffering repeated mechanical failures: the Frenchman, who had already retired from the earlier Sprint, reported his engine switching off, restarted and returned to the pits, but a further issue prevented a representative lap. The FIA record lists Hadjar with no time, and Crash.net attributed his lack of a push lap to a gearbox issue in his Red Bull. ¹⁵⁶

Russell's sixth becomes a back-row start

George Russell qualified sixth with a 1:31.747 but will drop to the back of the grid: Crash.net reported Mercedes fitted a new engine to his W17 after his failure last time out in Malaysia, exceeding his permitted allocation of power unit components for the season. The Race noted the penalty means Gasly's eighth is set to become seventh on the starting grid, with Hadjar also starting among the penalised drivers at the rear of the field. ⁶¹

BBC Sport quoted Russell explaining he had competed in qualifying "mainly just to make sure the car was feeling as it did yesterday after the crash but it didn't quite feel the same", adding that he had not been in the top five at any point in the session despite strong pace on Friday. Russell crashed out of the lead of Saturday's sprint at the end of the first lap. ²

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff told Sky Sports, in comments published by the BBC's live coverage, that running two different car specifications complicated the team's Saturday: "The mechanics did an unbelievable job in putting the car back together but maybe at the end we didn't have all of the sensors on the car and it didn't feel as good as it did before." On Russell's sprint crash he said it was "very, very unusual", attributing it to the power kicking in unexpectedly on the white line. ²³

Sprint context: Verstappen beats Russell's old-spec Mercedes

Verstappen's grand prix pole followed sprint qualifying success the previous evening. The Race reported that he claimed his first sprint race pole of the season with a 1m31.156s, 0.120 seconds clear of Russell, who was driving the older-specification Mercedes, with Antonelli only seventh in the upgraded version. Leclerc was third in sprint qualifying, ahead of the McLarens of Piastri and Norris, with Hamilton sixth. ⁴

Verstappen went on to win the sprint race itself after Russell crashed out of the lead, as BBC Sport's report on qualifying noted, taking pole for the grand prix a few hours later. The sprint had also featured a collision between the two McLaren drivers: Norris ran into Piastri at Turn Five on the final lap, turning fourth and fifth into eighth and retirement, and the BBC quoted Norris saying he apologised because "it was still me attacking" while maintaining he had the right to go for the space. ²

The Race also reported disruption in sprint qualifying, with SQ1 red-flagged when Sergio Perez nosed his Cadillac into the wall at Turn 5, breaking his front wing, plus timing issues and a potential software glitch that left some drivers down on power. Perez had promised to take risks this weekend, saying the event was "probably our last good chance to try and get a good result". ⁴

Mercedes upgrade and McLaren struggles

BBC Sport reported that Antonelli's fourth place was the first relatively bright moment for the Mercedes upgrade introduced in Malaysia, which the data shows has more downforce than the previous specification that Russell is running in Singapore, but which has proved difficult to access. Antonelli, the championship leader, sat only 0.189 seconds from pole after being seventh in sprint qualifying, though the upgrade was still expected to deliver more performance than has so far been the case. ²

Wolff struck a cautious note on the upgrade in comments to Sky Sports published by the BBC: "It will take some more proof of concept before I'm feeling more warm and fuzzy but we will have more detail after the race if we can have less degradation." On Antonelli's side, he said "the updates seem to have worked now" and that the team was missing "a tenth and a half or two tenths, which for qualifying is positive". ²³

McLaren, meanwhile, managed only fifth and seventh. BBC Sport reported the world champions had hoped for a step forward after struggling in the previous two races, but Norris indicated the car remained difficult: "In the end we're where we should be... the car is just too much of a challenge." Piastri was the only driver in the top four teams other than Leclerc to improve on his second run, and his seventh place followed his recovery from the sprint, in which he and Norris collided. ²⁵