Verstappen on pole position as he hunts first Singapore GP win

Max Verstappen roared to an all-important pole position on Saturday for the Singapore Grand Prix to continue a dominant weekend at a Marina Bay Street Circuit that is notoriously difficult for overtaking.

The Red Bull driver, who won the sprint race earlier, clocked a flying lap of 1min 31.373sec to head the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, with championship leader Kimi Antonelli fourth in the Mercedes.

Reigning world champion Lando Norris was fifth fastest in the McLaren with George Russell sixth quickest.

But Russell will start from the back of the grid after being penalised for using too many new parts.

Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Liam Lawson and Arvind Lindblad (both RB) completed the top 10 times.

The session was entirely dry after rain had affected the sprint race earlier, for which Verstappen had also been on pole.

Being at the front of the grid gives the 29-year-old Dutchman the perfect platform to hunt for his maiden GP victory in Singapore.

Verstappen has never topped the podium in the Lion City in nine previous race starts since his debut in 2015.

‘Happy to be on pole’

“Of course very happy to be on pole because this is the one I wanted,” said Verstappen.

“The car has been pretty strong all weekend. There are always things that can be better but it was enough for pole.

“We have been on a positive trend, so for us it’s very special to take pole here.”

Verstappen surged to his first grand prix win of the season a week ago in Malaysia and followed it up with a wet and wild Singapore sprint victory earlier.

Verstappen, on pole, was overtaken by Russell at the start of the 20-lap dash only for the Englishman to crash at the end of the opening lap on a track drenched by a sudden downpour 10 minutes before the scheduled start.

Verstappen pleaded for his team to sort out the sluggish starting by his Red Bull before Sunday’s main race.

“The start was horrendous again, so that’s definitely something that we need to improve on because if you have something like that tomorrow, that’s your race over,” said Verstappen after the sprint.

Failing to make the top-10 shootout from Q2 were Nico Hulkenberg, who was 11th fastest in the Audi, followed by Oliver Bearman (Haas), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Carlos Sainz (Williams), Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) and Franco Colapinto (Alpine).

The cars eliminated in Q1 included, surprisingly, the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar who suffered mechanical problems and failed to set a lap time.

He took no further part qualifying along with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez in Cadillacs, the Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll and the Williams of Alex Albon.

Alonso told reporters he would have to change his engine before the race and start from the back.