Welcome to Marina Bay
F1 is back in the hot and sticky streets of Singapore.
The track has undergone some slight changes in the third sector, with four of the corners being removed, leaving a longer straight and hopefully more overtaking opportunities.
After a seemingly close battle at the top of the timesheets in practice, who will take pole in this chapter of the season?
Q1 - Who will make it through
The session began with a number of drivers vying for the top spot; Leclerc, Russell and Sainz being the three to lead the times near the start of the session with Verstappen, Norris and Hamilton also looking competitive.
"There's too many f***ing cars"
Drivers complained at a build up of traffic in the final sector where the four corners had been removed with Max Verstappen saying “There’s too many f***king cars”.
Q1 ended in dramatic fashion with Lance Stroll’s late crash bringing out the red flag, leading to many drivers being unable to complete their lap time after the track had begun to ramp up. Thankfully the Canadian was able to emerge from his car unaided though he wasn’t well enough to take part in Sunday’s race; with Alonso driving the only Aston Martin in this years Grand Prix.
The effects of the red flag were shown with the top five being Tsunoda, Perez, Hulkenburg, Lawson and Magnussen. The five drivers left in the drop zone were Bottas, Piastri, Sargent, Zhou and Stroll. Piastri being the most notable of these as the McLaren had been showing a huge amount of promise in the practice sessions.
Q2 Brings a few surprises
A delayed Q2 session didn’t delay any form of action from the stewards perspective. It was seen that Verstappen was stopped for a longer time than usual at the green flag at the end of the pitlane, in turn holding up some drivers, though surprisingly no penalties were handed out – something which caused much consternation up and down the pitlane.
It was Russell that set the early pace, being closely followed by the Spaniards, Alonso and Sainz.
The session saw the two Red Bull cars seemingly struggling, with Perez finding himself in the bottom five. During the first runs Tsunoda also found himself impeded by Verstappen on track, halting one of his flying laps and then finding himself unable to set a time until his final run. Again, no penalty was levied for this – possibly due to no representative from the Alpha Tauri team turning up for the hearing against their senior team driver?
During the final flying laps of the session the Red Bulls were struggling to find grip again, which baffled many given then dominance they’ve displayed so far this season.
To add to the surprise both Red Bulls were knocked out by Liam Lawson, a driver for their junior team of Alpha Tauri.
The five drivers knocked out at the end of Q2 were Verstappen, Gasly, Perez, Albon and Tsunoda.
It's just not coming mate. Every braking zone I feel like I'm gonna crash.
I'm sorry but I cannot drive with these upshifts...What the f**k is this!?
Q3 - The Final Shootout
In the final shootout for pole it looked to be a competitive battle for the top spot, with the Ferraris and Russell who had been showing good pace across the weekend. It was Sainz who took provisional pole, setting the early time ahead of Leclerc, Norris and Russell.
The drivers all retreated to the pit lane and all strapped on a new pair of soft tyres for the final, most important lap of the session.
At the end of the session it was Sainz who took pole, with Russell splitting him from his teammate Leclerc, who finished in third. It was a close affair between all three men, as there was less than a tenth of a second between them.
Tell me we have it?
This would be Sainz’s 5th pole position in F1 and his second one consecutively, with him also taking the top spot in Monza last time out.
The final order from the top was:
What a great race this promises to be!
