Lando Norris resumed his dominating run at the Singapore Grand Prix, securing his fourth pole position in six races.
To keep his title ambitions alive, the McLaren driver must continue to outperform Max Verstappen. And he gave himself a good chance of closing the gap again by ensuring he starts at the front on Sunday.
Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both expressed reservations about their ability to reach the top ten after struggling in practice. But they were the two who came closest to Norris, albeit two and three tenths off the pace, respectively.
But it was a bad day for Ferrari, despite getting both cars into Q3 without incident. First, Carlos Sainz crashed at the penultimate curve as he revved up for his first flying lap of the practice, while Charles Leclerc struggled to establish his customary one-lap pace and was the slowest of the remaining nine cars.
Daniel Ricciardo harmed his prospects of retaining his VCARB slot with another Q1 departure. He and teammate Yuki Tsunoda were both speedy in Friday practice, but he failed to qualify and will start Sunday’s race in 16th place.
Lance Stroll too failed to impress, finishing fifth in Q1 after six attempts at the Marina Bay Circuit. Pierre Gasly will be sad to have joined them in the bottom five, but Sauber will not be surprised to see Valtteri Bottas in 19th place, ahead of teammate Zhou Guanyu at the bottom.
Verstappen had a terrifying moment at the conclusion of his first flying lap in Q2 when he clipped the curb and the car swerved hard to the left. His fast hands kept him from spinning and crashing, but he couldn’t stop himself from going outside the track limits and leaving himself with work to do to secure a Q3 berth.
However, his next effort was enough to place second overall, putting his teammate under pressure. Sergio Perez started the 2023 Singapore race in 13th place and finished the same, while Tsunoda finished in the top ten in the junior VCARB car.
Alex Albon was upset as he failed to warm up his tyres and would be punishing himself for missing out on Q3. Rookie teammate Franco Colapinto continued his great start to F1 by finishing 12th quickest, although he instantly apologized to his Williams colleagues over the radio, clearly believing he could have performed better.
Kevin Magnussen outperformed Esteban Ocon, but his lap was only good enough for 14th, while teammate Nico Hulkenberg claimed yet another Q3 spot. Despite both casting doubt on their chances of making the top ten, Verstappen and Hamilton were to join him there.
Norris was on a fast lap on his first Q3 attempt but was unable to complete it because Carlos Sainz lost control at the penultimate curve and buried the rear of his Ferrari in the barrier. Only three drivers set lap times during the session, therefore it was red flagged.
Verstappen was leading the standings, but his time was quickly erased as yellow flags were double waved in the final sector before he crossed the finish line. The fact that he was the fastest overall suggested that he may not have slowed down as needed, but replays revealed that he did let off the gas after noticing the stricken Ferrari.
Piastri inherited provisional pole as a result, with Hulkenberg the only other driver to complete a lap before the red flags fell and the clock was halted with eight minutes and four seconds left.
