Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took his second pole position in a week by beating the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s first lap in final qualifying was enough to take pole, his time fending off a second lap from Leclerc that was 0.054 seconds off pole.
Hamilton was closest to Verstappen after the first runs but was unable to improve on his second run.
In fact, most of the front runners struggled to improve on their second runs, as Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli took fourth on the grid, from McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Antonelli’s team-mate George Russell was sixth fastest but will drop to the back of the grid with a penalty for using too many engine parts.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was the only driver in the top four teams other than Leclerc to improve on his second run but could do no better than qualify seventh.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.
Verstappen came to Singapore fresh from his and Red Bull’s first victory of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and he has continued where he left off.
The four-time champion has looked the man to beat all weekend, and took pole for the grand prix a few hours after winning the sprint, following Russell crashing out of the lead.
Verstappen said: “This was the one I really wanted. The car has been really strong all weekend.
“We have been on a really on a positive trend and it’s really special to take the pole here.”
Leclerc felt pole had been on the cards if he had not made a few small mistakes on his final lap.
He said: “Q1 and Q2 were really difficult. I had some weird struggles under braking. Q3, the lap was OK. I did some mistakes. I think there was a potential to be on pole today but Max just did a better job.”
Hamilton, second to Verstappen in the sprint, was quickest in the first and second parts of qualifying but could not repeat that pace when it mattered during what he described as “another difficult Q3”.
He added: “The car was feeling much better. I really felt she had more in her, pushing her through the laps and sessions. Q1 and Q2 were awesome, but got to Q3, snaps through (Turns) One and Three (on the first lap) put me down and rest of the lap was good, and then the second lap too many snaps.
“I think there’s a really fine line with our car whether you are over or under the sweet spot and I didn’t get it quite right today.”
Hamilton said he had adjusted brake balance on his car for the final part of qualifying and he thought it had “just tipped it a little over the edge”. (BBC)
Source: NEW ROOMS SITE
