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Updated 22s ago
Mercedes’ George Russell will start tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix on pole position at Marina Bay.
The Brit put in two sensational laps in Q3 to claim P1 for tomorrow’s race, with Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri completing the qualifying podium.
It means Verstappen is still yet to claim pole position at Singapore in his F1 career. He will aim to put right his lack of a race win at Marina Bay tomorrow.
Williams later saw both of its cars disqualified from qualifying for breaching rear wing regulations, meaning Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz will start the race from the back of the grid.
Provisional grid: 1>RUS 2>VER 3>PIA 4>ANT 5>NOR 6>HAM 7>LEC 8>HAD
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Singapore Grand Prix qualifying: Brilliant George Russell pole, Max Verstappen unhappy with Lando Norris
Following the disqualification of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz from qualifying, Williams team principal James Vowles gave the following statement:
💬 “During FIA scrutineering after qualifying, the rear wings on both our cars failed DRS slot gap checks. As a result, Alex and Carlos have been disqualified from qualifying.
“This is bitterly disappointing for the team and we are urgently investigating how this happened. At no point were we seeking a performance advantage and the rear wings had passed our own checks earlier in the day. But there is only one measurement that matters and we fully accept the FIA ruling.
“We have a car capable of scoring points here this weekend and will do everything we can to fight from the back of the grid tomorrow, and will immediately review our processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
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This isn’t the first time that drivers have been thrown out of the qualifying results due to a technical infringement.
Following qualifying for last year’s Monaco Grand Prix, both Haas cars were disqualified from qualifying and they subsequently started from the back of the grid.
Because both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz were disqualified from qualifying, they technically didn’t set a lap time within 107 percent of the fastest Q1 time — which meant Williams had to request for both drivers to be able to start tomorrow’s race.
They will do that from the back of the grid.
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What is DRS and why does the device raise criticism?
Williams teammates Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz have been officially disqualified from Singapore qualifying, due to a DRS infringement on both cars.
When examining the uppermost rear wing element adjustable positions after qualifying, FIA Formula One technical delegate Jo Bauer found the cars exceeded the maximum limit of 85mm on both sides of the rear wing outer area.
Essentially, this meant the DRS on both cars created a bigger gap than allowed in the technical regulations — making the cars quicker than they would otherwise be allowed when DRS was deployed.
According to the stewards’ documents for both Sainz and Albon:
💬 “At the hearing, (Williams) admitted that although their own measurement prior to the qualifying had shown the component to be within tolerance, the measurement subsequently conducted by the appointed FIA Officials revealed a larger gap than permitted and therefore the rear wing did not conform with the required dimension.”
Williams did not contest, fully accepted the results of the FIA measurement and acknowledged the rear wing fitted to the car did not comply with the regulations.
After that fabulous hour of qualifying, it’s time to start getting excited about tomorrow’s race.
We’ve got lights out at 8 a.m. ET — which is 8 p.m. in Singapore, 5 a.m. PT and 1 p.m. in the UK.
And I reckon we’ll be in for a cracker under the floodlights.
There is a developing situation in F1 Academy. Nicole Havrda, who is supported by American Express, has been taken to “Singapore General Hospital for precautionary checks,” per the all-women racing series.
She crashed into the wall during Race 1 earlier today. It remains to be seen what this means for Race 2 tomorrow. Havrda posted on her Instagram story:
💬 “Feeling great, just bruised my hand from hitting the side of my car when letting go of the wheel when I crashed.”
This is how the grid is set to line up for tomorrow’s race — although bear in mind that both Williams cars are under investigation and could yet be disqualified from qualifying.
And there’s always the risk of a flier coming up that we weren’t expecting too. In the meantime, here’s the list of 20 …
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While Oliver Bearman was clearly delighted at how his qualifying played out, the same couldn’t be said for Isack Hadjar.
And that’s despite him sticking the Racing Bull in P8.
Hadjar felt he missed an opportunity to qualify higher — although whether that performance was actually in the car is a moot point.
Still, it didn’t stop Hadjar absolutely launching into a series of bangs on his steering wheel in the sort of display of emotion I had expected to see much of from the rookie.
The reality is he’s still got plenty to work with tomorrow though.
Really super work from Oliver Bearman today. The Haas driver took P9 today, from his third appearance in Q3 this season.
Only at Silverstone ahead of his home British Grand Prix has Bearman enjoyed a better qualifying outcome (P8) than he has just managed at Marina Bay.
For what it’s worth, his other Q3 outing finished with P10 in Japan.
Excellent stuff from the Brit.
Top three after a sweaty Singapore qualifying!
SINGAPORE — George Russell secured pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, the seventh of his career and first since June’s Canadian Grand Prix, which he won.
Max Verstappen, strengthening his credentials as a title threat, was second with championship leader Oscar Piastri third.
All eyes were on Verstappen on the last run of the night to see if the Red Bull driver would pull out a miracle, but he was ultimately 0.182 seconds off the Mercedes driver.
Trouble may be ahead for Williams.
According to technical delegate Jo Bauer, the uppermost rear wing element adjustable positions on the car of both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz “exceeded the maximum limit of 85 mm on both sides of the rear wing outer area.”
The matter has been referred to the stewards, but it’s likely they will be disqualified from qualifying.
Albon had qualified P12, and his teammate was right behind him in P13.
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Here’s how that final qualifying session ended up. We’ll bring you the full provisional grid later too …
Oscar Piastri was happy enough to grab P3 — mostly because his McLaren teammate and key championship rival was not ahead of him. Here’s what he had to say on the qualifying podium:
💬 “Obviously, I would have wanted more but I don’t think we had four-tenths in it to go and get pole — so ultimately, pretty happy.
“I feel like it’s been a good weekend so far and built up through it nicely and yeah, ultimately it was a pretty clean session so that’s all I can ask for.”
It marks some progress from Baku too.
It’s only qualifying — but you’re still allowed a bit of a celebration for grabbing pole position, right George …
More here from George Russell, who will start tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix from P1:
💬 “I mean, Singapore has not been the kindest to me in the past and that’s been through my own doing the majority of the time.
So I’m not going to get carried away with this pole position.
“It’s the best place to start. There’s a good pole-side advantage here, so I’d like to think I can hold the lead into Turn 1 — but obviously this guy on my left is pretty good at race starts and sending it down the inside.
“So I’ll be keeping an eye out.”
Max Verstappen was definitely still stood alongside Russell when he said that, but I’m not entirely convinced he was listening by that point — which is funny in itself.
Here is George Russell’s immediate reaction to his pole position — with a thanks to his Mercedes teammate for giving him the line:
💬 “Amazing. Yesterday was a very challenging day for many reasons, but it’s good to come back, get a good result. It is a long, sweaty race tomorrow but I knew there was potential.
“Kimi (Antonelli) was doing an amazing job all weekend, and I actually gained quite a lot from seeing what he was capable of doing yesterday afternoon.
“So yeah, very happy to get on pole.”
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Speaking of that podium interview … Max Verstappen was asked who it was who cost him pole …
💬 “Yeah, that’s what happens when there’s a car in front of you, just cruising two seconds in front. So, that’s noted, will be remembered as well.”
Who was it? Verstappen smiled — ruling out one of the two McLaren drivers:
💬 “Not Oscar! … So yeah, that was a bit of a shame. Otherwise, it could have been close for pole. It’s always very exciting here in qualifying. A little disappointed not to be first, but for us this weekend so far has been really good.
“The car has been very competitive, so for us to be second again is very good.”
Bold ploy from F1 as they opt to get all three podium drivers together for the post qualifying interview, encouraging them to chip in if someone says something they disagree with.
David Coulthard with the microphone, opting to reject subtlety over why they’ve made the change.
Although Coulthard adds that it also means the interview should take less time and the drivers can all get away quicker, which is the carrot element to all this.
Really good work from George Russell in that session. Two laps good enough for P1 at the end.
Curious to hear from Max Verstappen. He backed off at the end of his lap. Gianpiero Lambiase said in the radio he could “thank your mate for that,” suggesting he may have been impeded.
