Russell Stuns Verstappen and Secures Pole in Singapore

George Russell Surprises with Pole Position at the Singapore Grand Prix

Mercedes driver George Russell secured an unexpected pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix, surpassing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who placed second, and championship leader Oscar Piastri, who finished third. This is Russell’s first pole position since the Canadian Grand Prix, and he achieved a 0.182-second lead over Verstappen. Piastri’s third place, with his McLaren, reinforces the possibility that the defending champion can defend his title despite being 69 points behind in the standings. Verstappen has closed the gap with Piastri in the last two races, reducing the difference by 35 points. Lando Norris, who qualified fifth on Saturday, is in second place in the standings, 25 points behind his McLaren teammate, Piastri. The result could have been better for Verstappen if he hadn’t aborted his last attempt in Q3, encountering Norris’ McLaren on a slow lap in the final sector. Norris had already completed his second run in Q3 when Verstappen appeared behind him, at a slower pace.

Although Verstappen was not close enough to Norris to be considered an obstruction, the driver seemed to lose performance in Norris’s dirty air in turns 16 and 17, which, according to him, cost him the pole position.

“That’s what happens when you have a car in front that simply goes at its own pace, just two seconds ahead. That is taken into account and will also be remembered,” commented Verstappen after the session.

Max Verstappen

Despite this, Verstappen’s performance will be a great boost for Red Bull, who have not performed well on high-downforce circuits like Singapore this year. The defending champion will also benefit from McLaren’s apparent difficulties, as Piastri, who was 0.366 seconds behind Russell, admitted he was “surprised” not to have the pace to fight for pole position.

“Today I wanted more, but I don’t think we had four tenths to get the pole,” Piastri stated.

Oscar Piastri

Russell’s pole position, the seventh of his career, comes after his second place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and was a surprise for the British driver, given Mercedes’ difficulties in hot conditions this season.

“It’s incredible to be in pole position. Yesterday was a very difficult day for many different reasons, but it’s good to come back and get a result. A long and sweaty race tomorrow, but I knew there was potential in the car. Kimi was doing an incredible job all weekend,” expressed Russell.

George Russell

Mercedes’ strong performance was reinforced by Kimi Antonelli, who secured fourth place on the grid, a result that could have been better if he hadn’t made a small mistake at Turn 11. Antonelli will start ahead of Norris in fifth place, followed by the two Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, in seventh and eighth place respectively. Oliver Bearman, from Haas, and Fernando Alonso, from Aston Martin, completed the top ten positions on the grid. Nico Hülkenberg will start from eleventh position for Sauber. Williams drivers, Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz, finished in 12th and 13th places, but were subsequently disqualified for a DRS infringement and will start the race at the back of the grid. After crashing twice in practice, Liam Lawson qualified his Racing Bulls car in 14th place, ahead of Verstappen’s teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, who again struggled with performance and qualified his Red Bull in 15th place. Pierre Gasly had to stop at the side of the track on his last lap in Q1 after losing power steering due to an apparent hydraulic problem and parked his car before the Anderson bridge. The problem left Gasly in last place at the end of Q1 and also caused a yellow flag that interrupted the laps of several drivers on a fast lap at the end of the session.