Hours after winning the wet Sprint, Max Verstappen completed the set under the Marina Bay lights. His first run in Q3, a 1:31.373, was enough for pole by 0.054 seconds from Charles Leclerc, with Lewis Hamilton third, 0.123s back. It is Verstappen’s 50th career pole, his first in Singapore, and the first for Red Bull at this circuit since Sebastian Vettel in 2013.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli qualified fourth, ahead of Lando Norris. George Russell set the sixth-fastest time but starts from the back after his power-unit change, and Isack Hadjar joins him there after failing to set a time in Q1. That leaves Antonelli with a clear opportunity on Sunday: his title rival starts behind almost the entire field.

Verstappen strikes first, Ferrari can’t answer

It was not a straightforward evening for Red Bull. Verstappen spent much of the session complaining about his gearbox — “insanely bad shifts”, he said on the radio in Q2 — and was only second-fastest in that segment, 0.110s behind Hamilton. He ran just 15 laps all session, the fewest of any driver who reached Q3, and saved a set of soft tyres for Sunday.

His first Q3 lap did the job. Leclerc improved on his second run to beat Hamilton by 0.069s and take the other front-row slot, but neither Ferrari could match the Red Bull. Once pole was secure, Verstappen abandoned his final flying lap. Speaking afterwards, he made clear which of the weekend’s poles mattered most:

“This is the one that I wanted.”

— Max Verstappen, via Formula1.com

It is his second consecutive Grand Prix pole after Sepang, and it comes on the eve of a milestone: Sunday’s race will be his 250th Grand Prix. He starts it chasing his first win at Marina Bay, where he has led only three laps in his career, according to RacingNews365.

Hamilton fastest until it counted

Hamilton looked like the man to beat for most of the hour. He topped Q1 with a 1:32.429, 0.345s clear of Leclerc, then set the fastest time in Q2 with a 1:31.529. But he could not improve on his final Q3 run and dropped from second to third when Leclerc found time at the end. On a street circuit where track position matters, both Ferraris start on the first two rows.

Antonelli fourth, Russell to the back

Antonelli briefly led Q2 with a 1:32.165 before Hamilton went quicker, and he had a 1:32.818 deleted in Q1 for track limits at Turn 2. His second Q3 run lifted him to fourth, 0.189s off pole and 0.185s clear of his team-mate. Russell, whose W17 was repaired after his crash in the Sprint, was sixth fastest; he reported a burning smell from the brakes during the session, according to Formula1.com. His power-unit penalty means he starts Sunday’s race from the back of the grid.

McLaren returned to qualifying a few hours after Norris and Piastri collided on the last lap of the Sprint. The stewards ruled shortly before the session that neither driver was predominantly to blame and took no action. Norris qualified fifth and Piastri seventh, 0.148s apart.

Hadjar’s nightmare and the rest of the field

Hadjar’s weekend went from bad to worse. After stopping with no power in the Sprint, he had a power unit change before qualifying, then reported that “the engine is off” early in Q1. He made it back to the pits, went out again and lost his gears. Red Bull confirmed a gearbox problem, and he ended the session without a time.

Pierre Gasly put the Alpine eighth, ahead of the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad. Nico Hülkenberg missed Q3 by 0.182s and was summoned to the stewards after the session for allegedly impeding Carlos Sainz at Turn 5 in Q2 — a three-place grid drop is the usual penalty. Franco Colapinto hit the wall on his final Q2 lap, and Aston Martin lost both cars in Q1.

The yellow flags caught out several drivers early in Q1: Sergio Pérez, Alexander Albon, Sainz and Norris all had laps deleted for not respecting double yellows. Two investigations into drivers exceeding the maximum delta time — one in Q1 involving six cars, one in Q2 involving Piastri and Antonelli — ended with no further action. The session was dry throughout, with the track at around 40°C and the air close to 30°C.

Next: the Grand Prix

The 62-lap Singapore Grand Prix starts on Sunday at 14:00 Paris time (20:00 in Singapore). Rain is again possible: at the time of writing, Open-Meteo gives a rain probability of nearly 100% in the afternoon, falling to 47% at the start time. After a wet Sprint, a damp track would once more reward whoever reads the conditions first — and Verstappen starts at the front again.

Sources

Classification, times, laps, deleted laps, investigations and weather: OpenF1 session results, race control messages and weather data for Qualifying (session 11384).

Session report, Verstappen quote, Russell and Colapinto: Formula1.com qualifying report; radio messages and Hadjar’s problem: PlanetF1 and GPblog.

50th pole, Red Bull record and Hülkenberg investigation: Speedweek, RacingNews365, GP Kingdom.

McLaren Sprint decision: RaceFans. Championship standings: Jolpica F1 API, updated with official Sprint points. Race forecast: Open-Meteo hourly forecast for Marina Bay, retrieved October 10, 2026 at 19:15 Paris time.