George Russell threaded a Mercedes through Marina Bay’s concrete needles and came out with something big: pole position. On a night when every brush with the wall looked like a coin flip, Russell kissed Turn 16 and still planted a 1:29.158 to lead the grid for Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix. Max Verstappen will start alongside in P2, Oscar Piastri in P3, and the storylines are already simmering.
Russell set the tone early in Q3 with a 1:29.165 despite the Turn 16 rub, then found another sliver of time on the final run while everyone else blinked. Verstappen’s last attempt was heading somewhere until it wasn’t—aborted in the final sector and followed by a pointed radio from Gianpiero Lambiase: “You can thank your mate for that.” The Dutchman didn’t drop names in the pen, but the car in front was Lando Norris heading for the pits. Verstappen’s parting line—“remembered”—will linger into Turn 1.
There was nothing equivocal about Russell’s lap. The W16 looked alive in the slow stuff, and the Briton kept it on a tightrope without falling off. That’s twice this season he’s turned raw commitment into pole on a high-risk street layout. If Mercedes wanted proof their recent upgrades play nicely with downforce and traction demands, they just got it.
Behind the front row, Piastri starts third in the McLaren, with Kimi Antonelli delivering another statement in P4. The Mercedes rookie had a scrubbed lap in Q2, shrugged off the pressure, and then promptly topped the segment before Russell and Verstappen edged him. It’s the kind of calm you don’t typically get from rookies; Mercedes appear to have drafted well for the future.
Norris is fifth after a messy final push, with Ferrari stacking up next: Lewis Hamilton sixth, Charles Leclerc seventh. On balance, Ferrari had the pace to be a nuisance but not the bite to lead. Hamilton briefly fronted the times in Q1 before the track ramped up and the session settled, but in the shootout he didn’t have Russell’s confidence on corner entry.
The supporting cast keeps stealing scenes this year, and Singapore offered more of the same. Isack Hadjar fired his Racing Bulls into eighth with another clean, punchy lap. Haas’s Oliver Bearman reached Q3 and will start ninth, while Fernando Alonso wrestled an inconsistent Aston Martin to P10.
Qualifying wasn’t short of controversy. Q2 was trigger-happy on track limits, binning opening laps for Bearman, Antonelli, Hamilton and Russell—Antonelli’s was the most painful, removed for a Turn 2 overstep that seemed thin on replays. No matter: the Italian returned for a single, pressure‑packed run and went quickest on a 1:29.649 before the usual suspects found a fraction. The final Q2 order—Russell from Verstappen, Antonelli, Norris, Piastri—was separated by just a quarter-second from P1 to P5. Singapore’s narrow margins, in the flesh.
Q1 delivered its own chaos. Hamilton had a time deleted, regrouped, and still topped the segment with a 1:29.765. Piastri fumed over yellow flags on his first flyer—“Come on, they can’t be showing yellow flags just for people getting out of the way”—then recovered when the track came to him. At the other end, Pierre Gasly’s Alpine died against the wall with what sounded like hydraulics trouble, ending his day early in P20. The yellow that followed hung over the final laps, and the stewards subsequently flagged late efforts from both Saubers, Yuki Tsunoda and Russell for review. Expect a late-night inbox refresh.
If you’re counting storylines for Sunday, here’s the shortlist:
– Russell vs Verstappen into Turn 1. Track position is king here, and Russell’s launch could dictate the race complexion. Expect Mercedes to be bold on strategy calls; they know what they’ve got.
– McLaren split. Piastri ahead of Norris may matter in the title picture. If the Australian clears Verstappen off the line, the tempo of the race changes.
– Ferrari’s damage limitation. Hamilton and Leclerc in sixth and seventh isn’t headline stuff, but their long-run pace on Friday looked friendlier. Safety cars—and there are usually safety cars—could put them in the frame.
– The rookies. Antonelli in P4, Bearman P9, Hadjar P8. All three have been far too composed for their experience level, and Singapore tends to reward that.
The top 10, then: Russell on pole from Verstappen, Piastri, Antonelli, Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc, Hadjar, Bearman, Alonso.
Verstappen will fancy his chances of swinging the race on strategy if he can keep Russell honest. Piastri, meanwhile, has a habit of turning quiet Saturdays into pointed Sundays. And somewhere in the middle of all that is Norris, promising to “remember” tonight’s qualifying footnote when the lights go out. It’s Singapore—memory has a long shelf life.
