SINGAPORE GP – George Russell charges two tenths ahead of Max Verstappen to take pole
George Russell has beaten Max Verstappen by under two tenths to secure pole for the Singapore Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver set a 29.185 to put himself on pole as the Dutchman appeared to back out of his final attempt after hitting the wall sector and claiming he was blocked on his final attempt.
Russell looked difficult to beat in Q3, as both his laps would have been good enough for pole, having also been fastest in Q2, Verstappen had been blocked by Norris as he came into the pits. The Englishman’s first lap did see him touch the wall, but his final attempt saw another improvement. But it appeared to be nothing more than the Red Bull being caught in the dirty air of the Mercedes, so no further action is likely to be taken.
Verstappen blaming his friend Norris on an in lap moving slowly as he moved into the pit entry him failing to improve. The incident happened on the run to the final corner, where Norris was on the inside coming into the pits as Verstappen sought to complete his lap.
It’s Mercedes first pole in Marina Bay, since Hamilton set his famous lap in 2018 and came as a surprise as Russell gate-crashed Norris and Piastri’s fight. The talk before the weekend was about whether Verstappen could beat McLaren and take a third consecutive win. But Verstappen and Oscar Piastri both failed to improve on their final attempts.
Piastri put his McLaren third as he went over a tenth and a half behind Verstappen. Kimi Antonelli managed to split the two McLaren’s the Italian was just under a hundredth and a half behind Piastri as he went half a tenth faster than Lando Norris. McLaren, who has another opportunity to try and seal the constructors in the race, where overtaking can be more challenging.
Piastri’s performance, though, was a return to form for the Australian after a difficult race in Baku, where he made a series of mistakes, culminating in crashing on the first lap. Starting two places in front of Norris, he has a good chance to extend his twenty-five-point championship lead.
Piastri said, “My first lap of Q3 felt reasonable. It certainly didn’t feel 0.4secs off. We just didn’t have the pace tonight, which was a little bit of a surprise for us. We were relatively confident going in.”
Norris was a tenth ahead of both Ferrari’s with Lewis Hamilton out-qualifying Charles Leclerc by nearly a tenth. But both were half a second off Russell’s pole time. Ferrari had shown they could have been in the mix at the front with four tenths covering the top four teams in Q1, but their challenge faded as qualifying progressed.
Norris said, “We weren’t quick enough. The Mercedes were quite a lot faster. I didn’t put it all together, and you need to do it on a track like this. There’s still chances, so we have to wait and see.”
Hamilton will start ahead of Charles Leclerc for just the fifth time this year and for only the fifth time this season, who nearly dropped out in Q2, but neither driver will be particularly happy with their underwhelming session.
Hamilton said, “The pace was there. We just didn’t optimise the sessions, Q2 onwards. I’m definitely more comfortable in the car, this weekend, I think I have been driving really well. P6 is not good. I definitely think we should have been further ahead, but it was all about tyre temp today. It is every week. Tomorrow is going to be tough from where we are. There is not really much we can do from here.”
Leclerc was six hundredths ahead of Isack Hadjar, as Ollie Bearman went nine hundredths faster than Fernando Alonso as they completed the top ten. Nico Hulkenberg was eleventh; the Sauber driver missed out on the top ten shoot out by seven hundredths, after Leclerc got himself out of the drop zone after hitting the wall at Connaught on his first attempt.
Hadjar once again impressed with a solid result as he went two hundredths ahead of the Haas, as talk continues about him possibly moving to Red Bull next season.
Hulkenberg was six hundredths ahead of the Williams, Alex Albon out-qualifying his teammate Carlos Sainz by just over three hundredths. Things got worst for Williams when both Albon and Sainz were disqualified for a breach of the technical regulations. The rear wing DRS section was found to have exceeded the maximum limit of 85mm on both sides of the rear wing outer area.
The technical report read “This violates Article 3.10.10 g. of the Technical Regulations, which covers the Drag Reduction System (DRS) and states that “at all points along the span, when the DRS is in the state of deployment, the two sections the rear wing profiles must have a minimum gap of between 9.4mm and 85mm”
Hulkenberg and his Sauber teammate Gabriel Bortoleto, who missed out on Q2 by nearly half a tenth, are under investigation for yellow flag infringements. Liam Lawson was fourteenth, on a tough weekend where he crashed in second and third practice, he was three hundredths ahead of the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda, who looked to struggle to find a rhythm in his Red Bull and was slowest in Q2.
Bortoleto put his Sauber a tenth and a quarter ahead of Lance Stroll, with Franco Colapinto just over three hundredths behind. The two Alpine’s were split by Esteban Ocon, the Haas driver seven thousandths behind the Argentine as he went seven hundredths faster than former teammate Pierre Gasly.
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