Lando Norris signs the sixth pole position of his career in qualifying for the Singapore GP: the Englishman with the McLaren MCL38 has destroyed the time of the pole position start of last year. With the soft tyres Lando has reached an excellent 1’29″525, considering that he had to abort the first run due to the red flag caused by Carlos Sainz, author of a bad crash on the last corner of his launch lap.
With only one shot at his disposal, Norris did not want to take any risks, because he probably could have pushed harder: he did not need to, being able to count on the superiority of the papaya car. At his side he will find the leader of the championship: Max Verstappen is an excellent second with a Red Bull that seems to have got back on track. The three-time world champion kept his nerves of steel because in the first run he saw his time (1’29″791) cancelled because he had set the best performance while Sainz had crashed into the barriers. Max, in reality, had slowed down, but had not respected the double yellow flag that indicates to the drivers the obligation to eventually stop.
Verstappen did not lose heart and repeated a 1’27″728 that earned him the front row just 203 thousandths from the lead. The Milton Keynes team can look to the race with confidence because it seems that the team has put things back in order, allowing Max to defend his 59-point world championship lead.
The second row is all Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton in a sensational third, ahead of George Russell by just 26 thousandths. The Star found an unexpected performance given that the two drivers have always complained about the difficulty in getting the tires up to temperature. The W15 expressed its maximum potential. The black-silver arrows with the Petronas celebratory livery preceded the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri. The young Australian was not convincing: he left almost half a second from his teammate. He did not take any risks, but tomorrow he will be able to take advantage of the papaya car. He could recover, but he is not able to give Norris a hand in the world championship comeback.
The surprise of the day was Nico Hulkenberg sixth with Haas: the German has materialized a miracle. Positive performance also by Fernando Alonso seventh with Aston Martin ahead of Yuki Tsunoda with the reborn Racing Bulls.
Bad, very bad for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc had his only time cancelled for a long run at the first corner. The Monegasque complained about not having the right tyre temperature. The Ferrari driver may have lost too much heat in the queue waiting in the pit lane, but the fact remains that the red car ends qualifying without a time in Q3. Leclerc had finished the lap in seventh place on the track, but slipped to ninth when he was penalised.
Ferrari had a car capable of aiming for pole position (in Q2 Charles was a tenth off the top) and found itself with nothing. A disaster completed by the ugly accident of Carlos Sainz on the launch lap of Q3: the Spaniard lost his Ferrari on the last corner crashing with the rear end against the barriers. The impact was quite violent and the SF-24 demolished the rear after a swing and a spin. The driver, very disappointed, came out of the cockpit of the red car unharmed. It is possible that the Ferrari may have suffered a transmission failure: the crash heavily affects the ambitions of the Prancing Horse. Sainz crossed the track with the red flag, but risks a fine because he did not respect the indications of the race direction.
The two Williams did not make it into the Top 10: Alexander Albon failed the task by 24 thousandths and Franco Colapinto by 31 thousandths. We are talking about very limited gaps with the Argentine always very close to his more experienced teammate: it would be a shame if the South American were to leave the Circus next year, after having shown he deserves a cockpit.
The big disappointment of Q2 is Sergio Perez: the Mexican was unable to put the tires of his Red Bull in the right temperature window and will be forced to line up only in 13th position on the grid. Kevin Magnussen did not impress with Haas: the Dane on his return to F1 after the GP disqualification – he skipped Baku – immediately made a big difference compared to Hulkenberg. Essteban Ocon made the day by entering Q2 with the Alpine: the Frenchman exploited everything there was on the A524. He could not have hoped for more…
Daniel Ricciardo is only 16th with the Racing Bulls and smells of a substitution in favor of Liam Lawson: the Australian precedes Lance Stroll, rather disappointing with the second Aston Martin. Does the Canadian still have some memories of last year’s bang? This time Pierre Gasly is unable to give his paw and is only 18th with the disappointing Alpine. The last row seems reserved for Sauber with Valtteri Bottas preceding his teammate Guanyu Zhou, now relegated to the role of an extra.
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