The Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying session was one of changing conditions and this meant that the first two sessions, Q1 and Q2, were ran on intermediate rain tires but the real gamble came in Q3 to decide the top 10.
In drying conditions, albeit drying very slowly, the top teams fit soft compounds tires for their final runs. This seemed the logical decision but with the track evolving lap by lap, this meant the teams fueled the cars up to fun for most of the Q3 session. All the cars except Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who had to abort his final run due to not having enough fuel left for FIA inspection post qualifying. This left Max very frustrated:
“It’s just incredibly frustrating and shouldn’t happen,” Verstappen said. “Even when you under-fuel it, or when you don’t plan to do that sixth lap, you track that through the session – that you’re not going to make it.
“We should have seen that way earlier. So, yeah, not happy at all at the moment. I know of course, it’s always a team effort, and I can make mistakes and the team can make mistakes, but it’s never acceptable. Of course, you learn from it, but this is really bad for us – it shouldn’t happen.”
While Charles Leclerc’ Ferrari will lead Red Bull’s Sergio Perez from the front row on Sunday, the surprise was the pace that Mercedes found in the hands of Lewis Hamilton to qualify in 3rd place.
Lewis was setting very competitive laps in Q3 and even had provisional pole for a few laps before Leclerc and Perez jumped him. Despite that, Lewis has some pace and if he can get the tires switched on for Sunday’s race, it could be a very good day for him.
Red Bull left Max a lot of work to do on Sunday as he starts in 8th place and equally, George Russell down in 11th will have a lot of work ahead of him as well. Honorable mentions to Fernando Alonso who dragged his Alpine up to 5th just ahead of Lando Norris and that’s crucial for the constructor’s championship if he can stay ahead of the McLaren driver.
Singapore GP Qualifying Results:
| Pos | Name | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m54.129s | 1m52.343s | 1m49.412s |
| 2 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 1m54.404s | 1m52.818s | 1m49.434s |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m53.161s | 1m52.691s | 1m49.466s |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 1m54.559s | 1m53.219s | 1m49.583s |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1m55.36s | 1m53.127s | 1m49.966s |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m55.914s | 1m53.942s | 1m50.584s |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1m55.606s | 1m53.546s | 1m51.211s |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m53.057s | 1m52.723s | 1m51.395s |
| 9 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1m55.223s | 1m54.006s | 1m51.573s |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1m55.314s | 1m53.848s | 1m51.983s |
| 11 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m54.633s | 1m54.012s | |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m55.629s | 1m54.211s | |
| 13 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1m55.736s | 1m54.37s | |
| 14 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m55.602s | 1m54.38s | |
| 15 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m55.375s | 1m55.518s | |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m56.083s | ||
| 17 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m56.226s | ||
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1m56.337s | ||
| 19 | Alex Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1m56.985s | ||
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1m57.532s |
