Key Lewis Hamilton error revealed as Verstappen steals pole

Max Verstappen securing his first pole position at the Singapore GP, and the 50th of his career, in a qualifying session that could easily have seen Lewis Hamilton in top spot.

But for a costly mistake early on his best lap, Hamilton could have pipped both Verstappen and Charles Leclerc to steal top spot for Sunday’s race.

How Max Claimed Pole Position in Singapore

Following his sprint qualifying pole and victory in the sprint race, Verstappen was the favourite for pole position in the main qualifying session at the Marina Bay Circuit.

He capitalised on the troubles inside the Mercedes garage following their new W17 upgrade package, stepping up as the man to beat.

The only team looking capable of mounting a challenge this weekend was Ferrari.

The nature of the Singapore circuit means that straight-line speed and engine power take a back seat, while car setup and low-medium speed corner performance become vital.

Throughout the season, Ferrari has typically excelled in this area.

After a somewhat mixed sprint qualifying, the Scuderia clearly found the right setup direction, topping the timesheets in both Q1 and Q2 – right up until Q3, when Verstappen delivered.

The telemetry shows that the fight was exceptionally close, with the final sector deciding the winner.

In the final third of the lap, Verstappen was 0.160 seconds faster than Leclerc, and 0.125 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who ultimately took P3.

In fact, deeper analysis reveals that, had it not been for a mistake by Hamilton at the start of his lap, the seven-time world champion would likely have been on pole.

Hamilton’s ideal Q3 time was 0.151 seconds faster than his actual best, meaning pole position was within his grasp; he simply failed to string a clean lap together.

This error from Lewis is clear to see on the graph below.

He ran too wide entering Turn 3, missing the apex and compromising his exit, which resulted in oversteer and a loss of both time and momentum.

In Turn 3 alone, he lost two tenths, which snowballed into a three-tenth deficit by Turn 5.

On the flip side, Charles Leclerc went toe-to-toe with Verstappen through the first sector, matching his times almost identically across that opening section.

Then we reach the second sector, defined by the slow-speed corners where Ferrari finds its edge.

Both Hamilton and Leclerc clawed back time against Verstappen meaning that, by the end of the middle sector, Leclerc held a 0.15-second advantage, while Hamilton had completely wiped out the time he lost earlier in the lap.

However, as mentioned, the final sector is where the Ferrari drivers bleed time – a trend seen during sprint qualifying and the sprint race itself.

The Maranello squad loses the most time along the straight between Turns 14 and 16, where the Red Bull’s superior top speed comes into play, though Leclerc still remained ahead of Max at that point.

However, the Monegasque driver made a mistake at the Turn 16-17 chicane.

Struggling with an unstable front end, he brakes slightly late, compromising his line through a section where he was already slower than the others, as shown in the graph below.

He dropped roughly 0.07 seconds through this sequence, alongside losing the momentum needed for the final two corners of the lap.

That small mistake proved enough for Verstappen to capitalise on, snatching pole position right out of Ferrari’s hands.

Between Lewis’s mistake in the first sector and Leclerc’s wobble in the final chicane, Ferrari failed to convert the pace of the car seen in Q1 and Q2.

The speed was there; execution simply let them down when it mattered most.

On the bright side, Ferrari will have two cars to fight with at the front. It remains to be seen whether Ferrari can turn that into a tactical win.

Red Bull, meanwhile, has Verstappen on pole and Isack Hadjar at the back of the grid, opening up alternative strategic options.

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