Max Verstappen gave himself a strong start to the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix by taking pole position during Sprint Qualifying.
SQ1
After the farcical issues that plagued the initial formation lap in Malaysia last week, drivers would not have been happy to see significant battery software issues plague the sport once again this week, as a number of drivers would go without overtake mode on their final flying laps.
Two drivers who could be expected to be particularly aggrieved by this would be Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll, who both fell fowl of the technical issue, and as a result failed to escape SQ1.
Sergio Perez would have issues of his own, but independent of the battery issues. He would damage his front wing to a point that left debris on the track, bringing out the red flag, and while he would still be able to compete in the session, he was still knocked out in SQ1.
ELIMINATED
17. Arvid Lindblad – Racing Bulls +0.088
18. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.614
19. Alex Albon – Williams +1.082
20. Sergio Perez – Cadillac +1.712
21. Valtteri Bottas – Cadillac +1.820
22. Carlos Sainz – Williams +2.328
SQ2
A couple of those towards the sharp end of the grid found themselves at risk come the end of SQ2, with Isack Hadjar initially being in the bottom 6 with less than 40 seconds to spare, but he was able to set a time good enough that would initially pull him up to 5th place.
Russell would also find himself dropping down a number of places before provisionally being 11th place. However, while he was in the drop zone, he had set the fastest first sector out of anybody, before then doing enough in the other two thirds of the lap to eventually take 4th place in this session, dropping Colapinto into the elimination zone in the process.
ELIMINATED
11. Franco Colapinto – Alpine +0.094
12. Nico Hulkenberg – Audi +0.265
13. Oliver Bearman – Haas +0.268
14. Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi +0.311
15. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin 0.579
16. Esteban Ocon – Haas +1.213
SQ3
Ferrari had been looking strong all session, and that seemed to carry on into SQ3 as Leclerc had set the provisional pole position time, while Hamilton went 3rd. However, this was while only half the grid had set a lap time, and they would each end up dropping down some positions by the end, with Leclerc ending up in 3rd and Hamilton 6th, and that was with an improved time for the former.
Max Verstappen would end up stealing that provisional pole position from Leclerc, but would not give it up unlike his Ferrari counter part. Teammate Hadjar would get his one and only time deleted, and while both McLarens made attempts, neither driver could even crack onto the front row.
It was only George Russell who was able to separate Verstappen and Leclerc to take 2nd place, all the while Antonelli in the other Mercedes was uncharacteristically struggling for pace, only managing to go 7th fastest by the end.
Sprint Qualifying results
1. Max Verstappen – Red Bull 1:31.156
2. George Russell – Mercedes +0.120
3. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.243
4. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +0.298
5. Lando Norris – McLaren +0.431
6. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari +0.546
7. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes +0.693
8. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls +1.185
9. Isack Hadjar – Red Bull NO TIME
10. Pierre Gasly – Alpine NO TIME
