Charles Leclerc came out on top following an exciting wet-to-dry qualifying session at Marina Bay, Singapore, while championship leader Max Verstappen ended up eighth fastest after being told to abandon his final lap.
After heavy rain ahead of the final practice session had soaked the Singapore Grand Prix street circuit and meant that the segment was cut in half, Q1 began with patches for the layout still very wet but the majority dry.
This meant the front-running drivers ran intermediates to get through to Q3 before finally the majority made the switch to slick tyres, with all cars fuelled to circulate throughout each segment to take advantage of the drying conditions and the major track evolution factor.
Lewis Hamilton led the way early in Q3 with a one minute, 53.082 seconds that better Yuki Tsunoda’s initial leading effort still running the inters.
Hamilton, Leclerc and Fernando Alonso exchanged first position throughout the middle part of Q3, while Verstappen showed rapid pace in the first sector before he regularly lost out with big slides in the still-damp parts of the final sector.
Leclerc’s pole-winning time of one minute, 49.412 seconds came with under a minute remaining but his opposition could not depose him at a race where he could lose the 2022 title fight to Verstappen.
Sergio Perez slotted into second before Hamilton posted a purple second sector to briefly threaten Leclerc’s top position before he fell back in the final turns.
Carlos Sainz took fourth ahead of Fernando Alonso, Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly and then came Max Verstappen.
He abandoned his two final runs, the first featuring a stunning first sector before a slide at Turn 18 meant he backed off for one final effort.
He was close but not bettering his previous personal best but was ordered to pit and not complete the lap by Red Bull to his clear frustration and confusion.
The team told him to abort in fear in running out of fuel and not giving a suitable fuel sample in parc ferme. So to avoid disqualification, it’s best to back off, abort and accept this.
Kevin Magnussen had like Tsunoda started Q3 on the inters but switched to slicks much earlier than the AlphaTauri runner, the pair ending up ninth and tenth.
Leclerc topped Q2 while running the inters throughout, despite asking his Ferrari team to consider slicks as the track continued to dry.
While this was assessed at all teams, only the Aston Martin cars of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll, plus Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu opted to risk the softs.
None of them went quicker than the inter runners, with Vettel blowing what had been a promising final lap by locking both his front wheels and sliding down the Turn 7 escape road.
That left him P14 ahead of Zhou who complained of having “no grip” on his slicks gamble, with Stroll ending up ahead in P12.
Late jumps up the order from Gasly and Magnussen meant George Russell was shuffled down to a shock elimination in P11 for Mercedes, while Mick Schumacher was the other non-slicks runner to miss out on a Q3 berth.
The Haas driver did set a personal best on his final lap but could do no better than P13.
In Q1, the drivers headed out on inters, with the two Mercedes cars queuing at the end of the pitlane waiting for the action to begin, with Magnussen, Leclerc and Alex Albon among the drivers to slide down the escape roads at Turns 8 and 18.
Verstappen also had a big moment sliding towards the wall exiting Turn 17 heading towards the corner underneath the big waterfront grandstand late in the third sector, but held on and went on to top the segment ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc, the last of which did not come in to take a fresh set of inters.
Schumacher’s last-gasp improvement knocked out Valtteri Bottas, with Daniel Ricciardo P17 despite setting a personal best on his final effort.
Esteban Ocon likewise could not find enough late on and ended up a shock P18 ahead of Williams pair Albon and Nicholas Latifi.
So congratulations to Charles Leclerc in taking pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix. His championship rival Max Verstappen will start in the midfield so it’s going to be challenging for the world champion to fight through in the race. So this year’s title success might have to wait until the next race.
Singapore Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:49.412
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:49.434
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:49.466
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:49.583
5 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:49.966
6 Lando Norris McLaren 1:50.584
7 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:51.211
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:51.395
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:51.573
10 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:51.983
11 George Russell Mercedes 1:54.012
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:54.211
13 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:54.370
14 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:54.380
15 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:55.518
16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:56.083
17 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:56.226
18 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:56.337
19 Alex Albon Williams 1:56.985
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:57.532
Singapore Grand Prix qualifying review as reported by Formula1.com.
Charles Leclerc will start the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position after edging out Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton in a sensational conclusion to a wet-dry qualifying session at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Following a rain-hit final practice, conditions improved significantly during the build-up to qualifying and, while intermediates featured in Q1 and Q2, slicks were used across the board for the fastest laps of the decisive Q3 phase.
When it came to the pole position shootout, it was Leclerc who emerged on top amid a flurry of late gains as drivers pushed the limits amid ever-improving grip levels. His 1m 49.412s put him just 0.022s clear of Perez and 0.054s ahead of Hamilton.
Max Verstappen had to abandon a final lap that could have put him in the mix as he was called into the pits by his Red Bull team – leading to a sweary radio message as the reigning world champion took a lowly eighth place.
Carlos Sainz was fourth in the other Ferrari, while Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, McLaren’s Lando Norris and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly all capitalised on Verstappen’s drama to take positions five to seven. Behind Verstappen, Haas driver Kevin Magnussen and the other AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10.
A shock Q2 development saw George Russell drop out in 11th as he struggled to match the pace of team mate Hamilton. Aston Martin pair Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel sandwiched the second Haas of Mick Schumacher in 12th and 14th respectively, with Zhou Guanyu 15th.
Valtteri Bottas fell at the first qualifying hurdle after a late Schumacher improvement demoted him, while Daniel Ricciardo suffered his third Q1 exit in seven weekends, taking 17th. Esteban Ocon had a painful run to 18th – ahead of only Williams pair Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi – after encountering brake issues.
Can Leclerc convert pole position into victory in the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix? Or can Verstappen stage another comeback as he goes for title glory?
AS IT HAPPENED
Q1 – A wet start under the Marina Bay lights
After a soaking wet FP3 session, the rain clouds edged away from the Marina Bay area and – with Singapore’s typical heat and humidity in full force over the two-hour break – the track had dried significantly by the time qualifying got under way.
Nonetheless, intermediates were still required when the pit lane opened for Q1 as Hamilton kicked proceedings off with a 1m 56.937s on the green-marked rubber – almost 15 seconds slower than Sainz’s dry benchmark from FP2.
As the session wore on, a host of drivers lowered the P1 time while they dialled themselves in – Leclerc rescuing a wild slide in the process – and the track ramped up, with Verstappen finishing quickest on a 1m 53.057s.
Hamilton trailed Verstappen by a tenth in P2, but there was a significant gap back to the rest of the field, with Leclerc a second off the pace in third, followed by Perez, Sainz and Russell.
Gasly, Vettel, Latifi, Tsunoda and Albon were the drivers on the brink heading into the final minutes of the session, but Gasly, Vettel and Tsunoda all managed to escape with late efforts.
Tsunoda ended up eighth as he underlined the changing conditions, slotting just behind Magnussen, while Alonso – who survived a spin on his final run – and Zhou rounded out the top 10 in the opening exchanges.
Vettel brushed the wall en route to 11th, with Gasly 12th, Stroll 13th, Schumacher 14th (as the final driver to improve) and Norris 15th. While Norris squeezed through, Ricciardo suffered his third Q1 exit in seven race weekends as he could only manage 17th, behind the other Alfa Romeo of Bottas.
Ocon was a surprise name to fall at the first qualifying hurdle, though he reported over the radio that he had “no brakes” on his way to 18th, ahead of the Williams drivers – Albon beating Latifi on his return to the cockpit.
Knocked out: Bottas, Ricciardo, Ocon, Albon and Latifi
Q2 – The track dries out, but is it enough for slicks?
It was more of the same as the action resumed in Q2, the 15 remaining drivers putting on more intermediates and the lap times creeping ever lower – Leclerc working his way down to a 1m 52.343s.
A few minutes later, with some damp patches lingering, Leclerc made a call to the Ferrari pit wall and asked to switch to slicks, only to be given a fresh set of intermediates for his final run.
With the Scuderia playing it safe, it fell to Stroll and Aston Martin to roll the dice and bolt on slicks, but the Canadian ran wide at Turn 13 and suffered a half-spin. Vettel and Zhou joined Stroll in swapping to slicks but the four-time world champion also had a moment at Turn 7, ending his Q3 hopes.
Up front, Hamilton again took P2, some three-tenths off Leclerc’s time. Verstappen and Perez were next up, with Alonso keeping his place in the top five. Sainz progressed to the pole shootout in sixth, ahead of high-flying AlphaTauri pair Gasly and Tsunoda, while Norris and Magnussen were the final drivers to reach Q3.
This unexpectedly came at the expense of Russell, who missed out by just 0.006s after a difficult session. Referencing his struggles throughout practice, which included a couple of off-track excursions, he apologised to Mercedes over the radio and lamented that he “couldn’t do anything”.
Stroll and Vettel wound up 12th and 14th respectively after their slick gambles backfired, with Schumacher 13th and Zhou 15th – the rookie having also struggled to fire up the red-marked rubber.
Knocked out: Russell, Stroll, Schumacher, Vettel, Zhou
Q3 – A spectacular shootout for pole position
With 10 cars remaining for Q3, the Red Bulls made the first move as Verstappen and Perez headed out on soft tyres – a few more minutes having passed since Vettel, Stroll and Zhou had sampled slicks.
With the aforementioned trio’s sector times showing promise at the end of Q2, Verstappen picked up the mantle, though it initially looked like intermediates could still be the way to go. Indeed, his opening lap of 1m 56.940s was some way off the times seen in the previous phase.
However, a cleaner second lap demonstrated that conditions were all but ready for the slick rubber and a flurry of improvements followed, provisional pole changing hands on countless occasions as the clock ticked down to zero.
Ultimately, it was Leclerc (having asked Ferrari to go with softs, not intermediates) who did enough as he stormed to a 1m 49.412s to eclipse Perez and Hamilton by the finest of margins – all three drivers getting up close and personal with the barriers in the process.
Verstappen was lighting up the timesheets in the closing stages but Red Bull ordered him to back out of his final lap and return to the pits, with the Dutchman later revealing that his car had been under-fuelled.
That left Sainz to take fourth, ahead of Alonso, Norris and Gasly. Verstappen will line up eighth, needing another standout recovery drive if he is to claim victory and have any chance of securing the title this weekend. Magnussen and Tsunoda were the final Q3 runners.
It was an exciting qualifying session and various points in Q3, Lewis Hamilton went quickest. But in the end, he “just didn’t have the grip” to take first 2022 Formula 1 pole. Motorsport.com provides the news story.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton says he “just didn’t have the grip” on the final lap of Singapore Grand Prix qualifying to take his first Formula 1 pole of 2022.
Mercedes has largely struggled in 2022 but was hopeful of a stronger result on Singapore’s twisty street circuit, and with qualifying held in wet-to-dry conditions, it afforded the Brackley team a chance to shine.
And while teammate George Russell could only manage P11 after reporting an issue, Hamilton set the fastest lap early on in Q3 and looked set to battle for pole.
But with the track conditions improving rapidly, the final lap would prove crucial and after a flurry of late improvements Hamilton had to settle for third, just 0.054s behind Ferrari’s polesitter Charles Leclerc and 0.032s behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
Afterwards, Hamilton felt he had a shot at pole with a perfect final lap but said he “just didn’t have the grip” to take it.
“I was pushing so hard, it was so, so close. It was trying so hard,” he said. “These guys are always so quick, but I really thought maybe with a perfect lap, which was really hard to get, that we could be fighting for first place.
“I just didn’t have the grip in the last lap but nonetheless, I’m grateful to be on the second row. And I’m grateful to the team for continuing to push and we just keep our head down, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.”
While Hamilton was pleased to see Mercedes performed much stronger than in the preceding Italian Grand Prix, he was still frustrated to lose out by a tiny margin.
“We didn’t know how close we would be this weekend,” he explained. We knew that the car will be stronger than it was in Monza, but we didn’t know how close it would be.
“But to lose out by just that bit…it was just okay. We will just get up and fight again tomorrow.”
After qualifying Mercedes was summoned by the FIA stewards over filing an inaccurate scrutineering form on Hamilton’s car.
Earlier on Saturday, the seven-time world champion had also been summoned himself for a potential breach of F1’s jewellery ban.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was left feeling angry as he was told to abort his flying lap and says Formula 1 qualifying fuel error “shouldn’t happen”. Motorsport.com has the full story.
Max Verstappen was told to abort his final Singapore Grand Prix qualifying lap by Red Bull as he was set to run out of fuel, and feels the mistake “shouldn’t happen”.
Verstappen felt he lost two opportunities to claim pole position in Singapore, having halted his previous lap under orders from Red Bull, before his qualifying was then wrecked when told he needed to pit on his final lap in Q3.
After not posting a final laptime in the session, the world championship leader was pushed back to eighth place on the grid, with nearest title rivals Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez both qualifying on the front row.
Verstappen confirmed he was ordered to pit by Red Bull on his final lap because he was about to run out of fuel, which would have led him to be disqualified from qualifying and forced to start the race from the back of the grid.
“I already felt it was on the lap before as well, but then they told me to abort so I said OK we can do that but then on the final lap they told me to box and then I realised what was going to happen. We ran out of fuel,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1.
“It is incredibly frustrating and it shouldn’t happen. Even when you underfuel it or don’t plan to do those six laps then at least you track that throughout the session to know you aren’t going to make it. We should’ve seen that way earlier.
“I am not happy at all at the moment, I know of course it is always a team effort and I can make mistakes, and the team can make mistakes, but it is never acceptable. Of course you learn from it but this is really bad. It shouldn’t happen.”
Despite winning the previous five F1 races, including Hungary where he started 10th, Belgium where he started 14th and Italy where he started seventh, Verstappen isn’t optimistic about winning in Singapore due to the track’s characteristics.
“It is a bit like Monaco, it is super hard to pass and you can maybe do a little bit with strategy, but at the moment I am not really in the mood to think about the race tomorrow,” he said.
“Once I jump in the car, I will always give my very best but at the moment I am just super frustrated with what just happened.
“I [will] go back to the hotel and think about other stuff.”