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Charles Bradley

F1 Grand Prix qualifying results: Leclerc takes Singapore GP pole

Leclerc will start ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes after the one-hour session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

Weather conditions were wet under the floodlights, but the track dried in time for cars to run on slicks in Q3. World Championship leader Max Verstappen suffered a nightmare when he was forced to abort his final lap, after being ordered to by his team because he was about to run out of fuel, and he will start down in eighth position.

Singapore Grand Prix qualifying results: Leclerc on pole from Perez

Cla Driver Time Gap km/h
1 Monaco Charles Leclerc 1'49.412   166.588
2 Mexico Sergio Perez 1'49.434 0.022 166.555
3 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 1'49.466 0.054 166.506
4 Spain Carlos Sainz 1'49.583 0.171 166.328
5 Spain Fernando Alonso 1'49.966 0.554 165.749
6 United Kingdom Lando Norris 1'50.584 1.172 164.823
7 France Pierre Gasly 1'51.211 1.799 163.893
8 Netherlands Max Verstappen 1'51.395 1.983 163.623
9 Denmark Kevin Magnussen 1'51.573 2.161 163.362
10 Japan Yuki Tsunoda 1'51.983 2.571 162.763
11 United Kingdom George Russell 1'54.012 4.600 159.867
12 Canada Lance Stroll 1'54.211 4.799 159.588
13 Germany Mick Schumacher 1'54.370 4.958 159.366
14 Germany Sebastian Vettel 1'54.380 4.968 159.353
15 China Zhou Guanyu 1'55.518 6.106 157.783
16 Finland Valtteri Bottas 1'56.083 6.671 157.015
17 Australia Daniel Ricciardo 1'56.226 6.814 156.822
18 France Esteban Ocon 1'56.337 6.925 156.672
19 Thailand Alex Albon 1'56.985 7.573 155.804
20 Canada Nicholas Latifi 1'57.532 8.120 155.079

What happened in Singapore Grand Prix Q1?

Lewis Hamilton set the early pace for Mercedes at 1m56.937s, with all cars running intermediates from the off. Teammate George Russell lowered the P1 time to 1m55.842s before Leclerc set 1m55.054s and then had a quick off-track excursion.

As the track dried, the times tumbled: Hamilton retook top spot with 1m54.689s, which was beaten by Verstappen with 1m54.395s and then Leclerc with 1m54.222s and then 1m54.129s. Hamilton grabbed it back again with 1m53.161s, before Verstappen set an unbeatable 1m53.057s on his last lap.

Falling at the first hurdle were Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Williams duo Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi.

Singapore Grand Prix Q1 results: Verstappen fastest from Hamilton

Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'53.057     161.217
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'53.161 0.104 0.104 161.069
3 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'54.129 1.072 0.968 159.703
4 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'54.404 1.347 0.275 159.319
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1'54.559 1.502 0.155 159.104
6 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 1'54.633 1.576 0.074 159.001
7 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 1'55.103 2.046 0.470 158.352
8 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1'55.314 2.257 0.211 158.062
9 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'55.360 2.303 0.046 157.999
10 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1'55.375 2.318 0.015 157.978
11 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1'55.602 2.545 0.227 157.668
12 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'55.606 2.549 0.004 157.663
13 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1'55.629 2.572 0.023 157.631
14 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 1'55.736 2.679 0.107 157.486
15 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 1'55.914 2.857 0.178 157.244
16 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1'56.083 3.026 0.169 157.015
17 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1'56.226 3.169 0.143 156.822
18 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 1'56.337 3.280 0.111 156.672
19 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 1'56.985 3.928 0.648 155.804
20 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 1'57.532 4.475 0.547 155.079

What happened in Singapore Grand Prix Q2?

Still on intermediates, Leclerc set the bar at 1m52.343s, 0.34s ahead of Hamilton and 0.38s in front of Verstappen. For the final runs, a couple of drivers gambled on slicks with others using well-worn inters, but the frontrunners didn’t improve anyway.

Knocked out at this point were – surprisingly – Russell, slick-shod Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Mick Schumacher (Haas), Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin, who went off on his last lap on slicks) and Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo, also on slicks at the end).

Singapore Grand Prix Q2 results: Leclerc fastest from Hamilton

Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'52.343     162.242
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'52.691 0.348 0.348 161.741
3 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'52.723 0.380 0.032 161.695
4 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'52.818 0.475 0.095 161.559
5 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'53.127 0.784 0.309 161.118
6 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1'53.219 0.876 0.092 160.987
7 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'53.546 1.203 0.327 160.523
8 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1'53.848 1.505 0.302 160.097
9 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 1'53.942 1.599 0.094 159.965
10 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 1'54.006 1.663 0.064 159.875
11 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 1'54.012 1.669 0.006 159.867
12 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1'54.211 1.868 0.199 159.588
13 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 1'54.370 2.027 0.159 159.366
14 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1'54.380 2.037 0.010 159.353
15 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1'55.518 3.175 1.138 157.783

What happened in Singapore Grand Prix Q3?

The majority of the field went for soft slicks and were fuelled up for the whole session. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) set the early pace on intermediates before Hamilton smashed his time by over two seconds with 1m53.082s.

Verstappen got within 1.2s, but Hamilton went faster again with 1m51.019s. Verstappen’s next lap was 0.376s slower.

Leclerc was first into the 1m49s with 1m49.412s, 0.171s ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, as Verstappen aborted a seemingly faster lap. Perez snatched P2, just 0.022s off Leclerc as Hamilton grabbed third with 1m49.466s.

But the big story was Verstappen aborting again, after being told to pit by his team, stranding him down in eighth.

Sainz will start fourth, ahead of Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Lando Norris (McLaren), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Verstappen, Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Tsunoda.

Singapore Grand Prix Q3 results: Leclerc takes pole

 
Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'49.412     166.588
2 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'49.434 0.022 0.022 166.555
3 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'49.466 0.054 0.032 166.506
4 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1'49.583 0.171 0.117 166.328
5 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'49.966 0.554 0.383 165.749
6 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 1'50.584 1.172 0.618 164.823
7 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'51.211 1.799 0.627 163.893
8 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'51.395 1.983 0.184 163.623
9 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 1'51.573 2.161 0.178 163.362
10 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1'51.983 2.571 0.410 162.763
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