George Russell hit Max Burstappen in pole position during the thrilling qualifying time at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The weekend momentum shook between McLaren, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari, but Russell’s Mercedes peaked at the right time, dominating Q3 before surpassing the Q2 timesheet. Britton violated expectations of unpredictability by setting enough two laps in the pole position as the track’s evolution reached its climax.
A hot first rap lay the foundation and acquired the interim pole, featuring two purple times in the opening two sectors. Russell was then one of two of the top five drivers, finding time on his second lap and solidifying his hold at the top spot to score poles at the best time of Marina Bay’s new track record of 1M29.158S.
It was Russell’s second pole of the season, and came after a crash at FP2 eliminated him from most of the weekend’s most important practice sessions.
“It’s amazing to be in Paul’s position,” he said. “Yesterday was a very challenging day for a variety of reasons, but it’s good to be back today and get good results.
“Of course, there will be a long, sweaty race tomorrow, but I knew the car had a chance. I’m so happy to be on Paul.”
Verstappen was Russell’s closest challenger, with Paul missing 0.182 seconds, but the Dutch felt there was time left at the table on his second run. The incumbent champion, who has never taken a pole in Singapore, made a mistake in the final sector. He appeared to blame the dirty air of the slowly moving Landnoris on his way back to the pit lane before him at the final corner.
“It’s getting attention, and it’s remembered too,” he said. “That was a bit disappointing, otherwise I think it’s closer to Paul.
“It’s always exciting in qualifying. I’m disappointed that it wasn’t the first, but this weekend has been really good so far. The cars are very competitive.
Title leader Oscar Piastri qualified third, but the fastest McLaren was 0.366 seconds from the pace after saying he was the biggest in the car.
“I obviously wanted more,” he said. “But I don’t think there was 0.4s in there to get the pole.
“In the end I’m pretty happy. I think it’s been a good weekend so far. And I built it up well. It was a pretty clean session.
Kimi Antonelli was late to his teammate who acquired pole after the second Mercedes was eliminated for the fourth and 0.379 seconds in the second quarter, nearly eliminating the track limit.
Rand Norris was fifth after a bad session from the British who was 0.428s from the pace.
Lewis Hamilton passed the first quarter, but only improved 0.077 seconds to an hour on his way to the sixth. He was just under 0.1 seconds ahead of his seventh Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclair.
Isack Hadjar led the eighth midfielder to complete the top 10 ahead of Olvier Bearman and Fernando Alonso.
Nico Halkenberg ranks his season-high 11th place in Sauber, hitting Williams teammates Alex Albon and Carlos Sign into the spot.
Liam Lawson recovered from two major accidents in his second and third practice sessions, finishing 14th ahead of 15th place Red Bull Racing driver Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver rapped a Q3 verse and 0.781 seconds slower than his teammate Verstappen.
Gabriel Boltreto missed Q2 in just 0.045 seconds, and Sauber Driver finished 16th on the grid ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance walk.
“Incredible, it’s always a bad thing,” lamented the walk.
Franco Colapinto was 18th place after Haas’s Esteban Ocon and Takayama’s teammate Pierre Guthrie.
“I lost everything,” the French reported, explaining his third consecutive first quarter elimination.
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