Qualifying Report
High tension qualifying at the Marina Bay circuit in Singapore, especially after what happened in the opening minutes of Q3. After the elimination of Sergio Perez in the previous round (with the Mexican Red Bull driver starting 13th) and Carlos Sainz’s crash into the barrierswhich led to the red flag being displayed, pole position was effectively decided in the final moments of Q3. Unlike the disaster of Q1 in Baku, Landon Norris He fully redeemed himself by obtaining the best time ahead of Max Verstappen and the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell. 5th was the winner of the last Azerbaijan GP, Oscar Piastri, in a session to forget for Ferrari. In addition to the aforementioned retirement of Sainz, Leclerc will start from ninth position: already author of a less than impeccable performance, the Monegasque had his time cancelled for exceeding the track limits on turn 2.
The words of the top 3
Landon Norris (1st, McLaren): “It was tough especially in qualifying as I struggled a bit to set times and progress while everyone else was going faster and faster. That put a bit of pressure on me especially at the end because I only had one lap, but it was enough for pole and I’m happy about that, especially here in Singapore. It was a good feeling, I felt good all weekend and I have confidence. I got the job done. I enjoyed it and it was fun with my heart beating fast. My lap was before the red flag, so I still had some margin. The car was good, but it’s the time that gives you confidence. In the end I managed to get the job done and I’m excited about tomorrow too. I had confidence that I could be fast, so I knew I didn’t have to push too hard. I just had to do what I did all weekend. It’s a good feeling because I managed to overcome those difficulties, it’s just a shame because the car moves a lot and there are some bumps, so one small mistake can lead to a big loss. You also pay a price if you try to overdo it, but I kept calm and did what I had to do, so I’m happy.”
Max Verstappen (2nd, Red Bull): “I think all the qualifying went pretty well. We managed to improve the car attempt after attempt after FP3 and I’m happy to be on the front row if we look at where we started yesterday. Q2 was tough and there was also my lap cancelled due to the double yellow flags, everyone had only one attempt but they didn’t want to overdo it. I wanted to stay within the limits and I’m happy with this 2nd place, I accept it willingly. Getting the tyres into the right window for the flying lap is always quite difficult because the tyres can give you a lot of time or make you lose it. Today went pretty well for our qualifying and I’m happy about that. We are second, tomorrow it will be difficult to predict because in Singapore a lot of things can happen but we can also have some chances in this position”.
Lewis Hamilton (3rd, Mercedes): “The crowd today is incredible and I want to thank everyone for their support, some of my fans have travelled here from all over so I’m very grateful for that. My qualifying has been a disaster for me all year, and I’ve been working, working, working to try to get back to the front. Suddenly I felt the car alive for the first time in a long time in qualifying. It’s a bit of a shame because we struggled to find the rhythm, and doing the lap at the end was a bit tricky. There was probably still a small margin in the car, but I’m very happy with the result. With the mechanics we made a lot of balance changes every day of the weekend, they worked so hard and I want to thank them for what they did. Hopefully we can fight for the top positions tomorrow. Let’s take it one day at a time; today was really good and it’s important that we’re back at the front. We’ve seen that the McLarens have been quick every weekend and hopefully we can keep up with them and give it our all.”
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