Singapore GP Sprint Qualifying: Verstappen on pole as Antonelli struggles

Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix sprint, beating Mercedes driver George Russell by 0.120 seconds. For the championship picture, the result suddenly heaps pressure onto Kimi Antonelli, who qualified down in seventh and now faces a tricky opening lap from the fourth row.

With Antonelli trailing his Mercedes teammate by 0.573 seconds, Verstappen has an ideal opportunity to claw back vital points from the front of the grid under the Marina Bay lights, flanked by Russell and Ferrari‘s Charles Leclerc.

Tyre runs split the top ten runners

Running tyre strategy across the shortened sessions saw almost universal reliance on the red-walled compound when it mattered most. Nine of the top ten drivers logged their benchmark times on softs: Verstappen, Russell, Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, Antonelli, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar. Only Pierre Gasly defied the trend, setting his best lap on the medium compound to qualify tenth.

Verstappen’s path to the front involved four distinct tyre runs across the evening, working through three sets of mediums before switching to softs for his final run. There were no listed long runs during the session, leaving single-lap pace on fresh rubber as the sole indicator of car performance before lights out.

Deleted laps disrupt the order

Track limits kept race control busy beneath the floodlights, with seven lap times ultimately deleted by the stewards. Hadjar suffered the most with two separate infractions, while Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas lost one lap apiece. The session also experienced a red flag and four incidents noted or investigated by stewards.

Those deletions and interruptions contributed to several notable casualties before the final shootout. Hadjar failed to escape SQ2 alongside Gasly, Franco Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Oliver Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon. Earlier, SQ1 claimed Arvid Lindblad, Lance Stroll, Alexander Albon, Sergio Perez, Bottas and Carlos Sainz.

Action resumes with the sprint race on Saturday 10 October at 09:00 UTC, where Antonelli must navigate midfield traffic to defend his championship cushion against Verstappen.

Timing data: OpenF1. Charts and results card by Slip Stream GP.

This report was written automatically with the help of AI (Google Gemini), from public timing data. Every number in the tables and charts comes straight from the data. Spotted a mistake? Tell me.

Published by

Pasindu Senavirathna

Data

Jolpica-F1, OpenF1, Wikidata and Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and MET Norway

Last updated

18 Oct 2026, 23:31