George Russell in a Mercedes took pole position Saturday for the Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, as McLaren were outpaced around the Marina Bay Circuit. Championship leader Oscar Piastri will start on the second row after coming third while his McLaren teammate Lando Norris was only fifth. Russell set a blistering lap of 1min 29.158sec, 0.182sec clear of Verstappen. “Amazing to be on pole position. Yesterday was a very challenging day for many different reasons but good to come back and get a result,” said Russell.
His fellow Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli was fourth to split the two McLarens.
“A long sweaty race tomorrow but I knew there was potential in the car,” added Russell.
“Kimi was doing an amazing job all weekend.”
The Ferrari pair of Lewis Hamilton and Chalres Leclerc were sixth and seventh respectively.
Isack Hadjar (RB), Oliver Bearman (Haas) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) completed the top 10.
Verstappen won the previous two grands prix, in Monza and Baku, and is challenging the season-long dominance of the McLarens at the top of the standings.
He now has a chance of a maiden victory in Singapore that would keep him in the hunt for a fifth consecutive world title, having closed the gap to Piastri to 69 points and to 44 points on Norris.
McLaren are looking to wrap up the constructors’ championship this weekend, where a podium finish for one of their cars will ensure a second consecutive title with six races to spare.
Liam Lawson, who on Saturday crashed his RB for the second successive practice session causing a red flag, managed to qualify in 14th after his engineers repaired the damage between the sessions.
Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber was 11th and also failed to make it to the top-10 shootout alongside the Williams of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, plus the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda in 15th.
Hamilton was investigated for an alleged red flag infringement relating to Lawson’s incident, but escaped a potential grid penalty after stewards deemed he “did not drive in a manner that could be considered unsafe”.
Gabriel Bortoleto in a Sauber, Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, the Haas of Esteban Ocon and the Alpines of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly were eliminated in Q1.
Sunday’s race in tropical Singapore has been declared the first official Formula One “Heat Hazard” with temperatures during the grand prix predicted to be 31C or higher.
That means all drivers must have liquid-cooled vests and refrigerant pump equipment available, though wearing them is not mandatory.
Drivers were seen trying out the vests and their associated maze of cooling tubes under their fireproof overalls.
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