Max Verstappen’s strong weekend in Singapore by taking his 50th career pole position ahead of tomorrow’s Grand Prix.
Q1
Isack Hadjar’s Saturday went from bad to worse during this part of qualifying, as he would end up losing his gears while on his first lap, and despite attempts to fix any issues with his car, he was unable to set a lap time and was out in Q1. This all comes after mechanical problems forced him to retire early on from the Sprint earlier today.
Another driver who retired from the Sprint was George Russell, but he was able to have a more successful time during Q1. While he will be starting tomorrow’s Grand Prix from the back, the fact that he was able to go out and set times at least stopped him from having to start from the pit lane in the main race.
ELIMINATED
17. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +0.054
18. Alex Albon – Williams +0.120
19. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.777
20. Sergio Perez – Cadillac +0.954
21. Valtteri Bottas – Cadillac +1.815
22. Isack Hadjar – Red Bull NO TIME
Q2
Drivers were really starting to push the limits off the track in this part of qualifying, which saw a couple of near misses as both McLarens would tap the wall at one point, and Bortoleto would nearly lose control of his car after exiting the Anderson Bridge.
Another driver who got a bit too close to the limit was Franco Colapinto, who hit the wall reasonably hard at the penultimate corner on his final flying lap. While he was able to finish his lap, he would end up going slowest of anybody in Q2, all the while his teammate Gasly would end up through to Q3.
ELIMINATED
11. Nico Hulkenberg – Audi +0.182
12. Ollie Bearman – Haas +0.306
13. Esteban Ocon – Haas +0.721
14. Carlos Sainz – Williams +0.924
15. Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi +1.056
16. Franco Colapinto – Alpine +1.185
Q3
Verstappen would continue his strong run throughout the weekend by taking provisional pole position, with a stronger final sector squeezing himself ahead of Hamilton by just a tenth, despite the latter looking to be the faster driver up to this point in qualifying.
The ending to Q3 was rather anticlimactic, as both McLarens would fail to improve by enough to even remotely challenge for pole position, while Hamilton would really struggle with the car during his final sector, and actually lost time compared to his banker lap.
Hamilton would be pushed down to 3rd place after Leclerc would manage to snatch 2nd from him, and though still failed to beat Verstappen by the end. Antonelli would give up on setting a final lap time, feeling that he had already made too many mistakes, and that gave Verstappen absolutely no incentive to push for a better time, with the only other driver yet to set a final lap being Pierre Gasly in his Alpine.
Qualifying Results
1. Max Verstappen – Red Bull 1:31.373
2. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari+0.054
3. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari +0.123
4. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes +0.189
5. Lando Norris – McLaren +0.339
6. George Russell – Mercedes +0.374 (40 PLACE GRID PENALTY)
7. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +0.487
8. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.852
9. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls +0996
10. Arvid Lindblad – Racing Bulls +1.408
