Verstappen beats Ferrari duo to Singapore GP pole as Hadjar suffers more issues

SINGAPORE – Max Verstappen continued Red Bull’s fightback, securing pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

But it was a tale of two Red Bulls as Isack Hadjar’s session was blighted by reliability woes, which meant he was not able to set a lap time in Q1. He will line up at the back of the grid along with George Russell, who has an engine penalty.

Hadjar eliminated in Q1 after yet more reliability issues

Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren’s mechanics all had a busy time between the Sprint and Qualifying. Both sides of the Mercedes garage worked to repair George Russell’s W17 after his Sprint crash, while McLaren replaced Oscar Piastri’s gearbox and checked Lando Norris.

Red Bull, meanwhile, changed Isack Hadjar’s power unit. “Thank you boys, thank you for the effort,” was Hadjar’s message to his mechanics as he left the pit lane.

Double waved yellow flags! Even before the first lap time of the session had been set, the yellow flags were out as Esteban Ocon locked up and spun. He narrowly avoided the Turn 13 wall. “I had no brakes,” he complained.

Lance Stroll also found himself the wrong way up an escape road. The yellow flags were again waved when Hadjar went straight on at Turn 8. Moments later, Hadjar, back on track, was crawling around the circuit, as he reported: “The engine is off.” He got going and returned to the pits.

McLaren bounced back from its gearbox concerns to grab the 1-2, with Norris ahead of Piastri on a 1:33.047. Max Verstappen was third behind the McLarens, two-tenths off Norris’ pace.

Hadjar returned to the track with seven minutes on the clock, with the Frenchman the only driver without a lap time on the board. But he was forced to head back into the pit lane. “Same issues again. No gears.”

He was in the drop zone along with Oliver Bearman, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Pierre Gasly and Gabriel Bortoleto.

As track conditions improved, Norris lowered the benchmark time, Lewis Hamilton replaced him in P1, Kimi Antonelli improve his time only to lose it due to a track limit violation, and Bearman break out of the drop zone with the fifth-fastest time.

Hamilton ended the session fastest with a 1:32.680, 0.094s ahead of Charles Leclerc, while Norris finished third.

Eliminated: Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Isack Hadjar.

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Late effort from Gasly relegates Hulkenberg to P11 in Q2

Russell was the first driver to cross the line in Q2, posting a 1:32.323. However, he was down in fourth place as the rest of the top 16 completed their first flying laps.

Kimi Antonelli went quickest but was replaced by Lewis Hamilton, the Ferrari driver posting a 1:31.766. That was four-tenths faster than the championship leader’s time.

Verstappen was up to third. “Insanely, insanely bad shifts,” complained the Red Bull driver.

Both Bortoleto and his teammate Nico Hulkenberg had near misses with the walls. The Brazilian down in 15th place while his teammate was on the cusp of the drop zone in tenth. Pierre Gasly, Bearman, Carlos Sainz, Bortoleto and Franco Colapinto were in the drop zone.

Despite already being in P1, Hamilton completed a second flying lap and improved to 1:31.529. That extended his advantage over Norris to three-tenths of a second.

Gasly improved to tenth place, pushing Hulkenberg into the drop zone, while his teammate Colapinto bounced off the wall. “I completely lost it,” he told Alpine.

Q2 ended with Hamilton fastest of all, ahead of Verstappen and Norris.

Eliminated: Nico Hulkenberg, Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto,

Max Verstappen secures pole position in Singapore

Verstappen led Leclerc, Antonelli and Russell out onto the track for the start of Q3. Hamilton and Gasly were the last driver out of the pits.

Verstappen was the quickest in the early running with a 1:31.373, a tenth up on Hamilton with Leclerc third fastest.

Mercedes was the first team out of the pit lane for a second run, Russell and Antonelli going early. Antonelli upped his pace, but it was only enough for third place, with Russell unable to improve on his seventh place.

Hamilton, fighting his Ferrari, wasn’t able to find more pace and remained second behind Verstappen. That became third as Leclerc beat his teammate by 0.07s.

Verstappen gave up on his flying lap as pole position was his. He’ll line up P1 ahead of Leclerc, Hamilton and Antonelli.

Singapore Grand Prix: Qualifying top ten

1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:31.373
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:31.427
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:31.496
4 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:31.562
5 Lando Norris McLaren 1:31.712
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:31.747
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:31.860
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:32.225
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:32.369
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls 1:32.781

The full Qualifying results from the Singapore Grand Prix
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