Ferrari takes pole position for the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz leading George Russell and Charles Leclerc for Sunday’s race.
If you were tired of seeing Red Bull dominate a weekend, then this weekend’s Singapore GP will make you happy as both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were knocked out in Q2. This left a battle between McLaren’s Lando Norris, Mercedes driver George Russell and the Ferrari’s of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
What is interesting is the lack of aero and grip both Red Bull’s experienced and while I’m not trying to be a conspiracy theorist here, the FIA’s new Technical Directive regarding flexible wings/floors was issued this weekend. The team says it didn’t concern them as they weren’t running a wing system that was impacted by the directive but then they would say that.
I’m finding it rather difficult to see how this car, clearly dominant on all circuits, struggled so much this weekend and if I were a betting man, I would say the technical directive played a role in hobbling the Red Bulls.
I could be completely wrong, here, and it may simply be that this track hasn’t been a favorite for the Red Bulls in recent years so perhaps it is an outlier for them and I said on Monday’s podcast that if there was one race they may be vulnerable, it could be Singapore so maybe it is as simple as that.
There are several steward investigations for impeding but at the time of the checkered flag, this was the running order:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:32.339 | 1:31.439 | 1:30.984 | |
| 2 | 1:32.331 | 1:31.743 | 1:31.056 | |
| 3 | 1:32.406 | 1:32.012 | 1:31.063 | |
| 4 | 1:32.483 | 1:31.951 | 1:31.270 | |
| 5 | 1:32.651 | 1:32.019 | 1:31.485 | |
| 6 | 1:32.242 | 1:31.892 | 1:31.575 | |
| 7 | 1:32.584 | 1:31.835 | 1:31.615 | |
| 8 | 1:32.369 | 1:32.089 | 1:31.673 | |
| 9 | 1:32.100 | 1:31.994 | 1:31.808 | |
| 10 | 1:32.215 | 1:32.166 | 1:32.268 | |
| 11 | 1:32.398 | 1:32.173 | ||
| 12 | 1:32.452 | 1:32.274 | ||
| 13 | 1:32.099 | 1:32.310 | ||
| 14 | 1:32.668 | 1:33.719 | ||
| 15 | 1:31.991 | |||
| 16 | 1:32.809 | |||
| 17 | 1:32.902 | |||
| 18 | 1:33.252 | |||
| 19 | 1:33.258 | |||
| 20 | 1:33.397 |
I absolutely loved seeing the mix of teams and drivers at the front of grid. I don’t necessarily like seeing a team struggle like Red Bull did in qualifying, but it sure was nice to see all the other teams showing what they had and battling it out for pole. I sure hope the race is as good as qualifying.