#F1 #SingaporeGP #Qualifying: @GeorgeRussell63 beats @Max33Verstappen to pole.
George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W16, celebrates in Parc Ferme after taking his second-career pole of the season, Qualifying, Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2025, Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore, Singapore. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. Russell Singapore GP Pole, 2025 Singapore GP Qualifying, Singapore GP Qualifying Results, F1 Singapore GP Qualifying, Russell 2025 Singapore Pole.
Russell Singapore GP Pole – Mercedes’ George Russell beat reigning world champion Max Verstappen to pole position and his second of the season at the Singapore GP by 0.182 seconds as championship leader Oscar Piastri completed the top three for McLaren.
This was Russell’s seventh-career pole position and ties for fourth with James Hunt in the McLaren all-time pole-sitters list.
Championship rivals Piastri and Lando Norris start third and fifth respectively – they may not be in the hunt for the victory, but crucially the Melbournian is ahead of his team-mate. The Woking based-outfit could secure their tenth Constructor’s title crown tomorrow if they outscore Mercedes by 31 points.
Is Verstappen can get a good run off the line to beat Russell and hold position right to the end, it could reignite the Dutchman’s title challenge to the McLaren duo.
In Q3, the initial flyers saw Haas’s Oliver Bearman post the first time of a 1:30.166, which was beaten by Russell’s 1:29.165 with three purple sectors.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was up to second and 0.372 seconds off his Mercedes team-mate in second as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso slotted into fourth and 1.194 seconds down.
Norris posted a 1:29.607 and ended up third as Charles Leclerc placed fourth and 0.619 seconds down – but Hamilton pipped Ferrari team-mate Leclerc for fourth with his 1:29.733 effort.
Piastri then put his McLaren second with a 1:29.524 then was ousted by Verstappen’s 1:29.340 to end up 0.175 seconds adrift of Russell’s provisional pole time.
The final hot-laps saw Bearman could only improve to ninth with and ended up 0.703 down as Norris could only end up fifth and 0.421 seconds off Russell’s provisional pole time.
Leclerc with two personal bests remained seventh as Russell improved with a purple middle sector to improve by 0.007 seconds to set a 1:29.158 and pole position for the Silver Arrows.
Hamilton was next but stayed ahead of team-mate Leclerc in sixth with his 1:29.688 effort as Verstappen backed off his flyer ending up second.
Piastri was third and lines up for the second row of the grid alongside Antonelli.
Norris and Hamilton will share the third row as Leclerc and Hadjar took seventh and eighth respectively.
Bearman and Alonso completed the top ten.
In the middle segment, which was topped by Russell, a late improvement from Leclerc sent Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg out of Q2 as the German wounded up 11th missing out on Q3 by a slim 0.065 seconds.
The Atlassian Williams Racing pairing were 12th and 13th respectively whilst RB’s Liam Lawson and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda were the slowest of the Q2 runners in 14th and 15th.
In the opening qualifying stage, which was topped by Hamilton, a late improvement from Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto was not enough for the Brazilian as he wounded up 16th.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll qualified 17th and in-front of Alpine’s Franco Colapinto who took 18th.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon ended up 19th as the other A525 entry of Pierre Gasly brought up the rear.
Gasly suffered a hydraulics issue and reported heavy steering as the Frenchman parked it in the run-off area bringing out the yellow flags right at the end.
You can see the full Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2025 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX 2025 – QUALIFYING
2025 Singapore Qualifying – The Top Three
2025 Singapore GP Pole Position – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W16 – 1:29.158:
“Amazing to be on pole position. yesterday was a very challenging day for many reasons, so it is great to come back and get a result. I knew there was potential in the car, Kimi was doing a great job and I was inspired by what he was doing. Singapore has not been the kindest to me in the past, I think I can hold it into Turn 1 but this guy [Verstappen] is pretty good at race starts so…”
2nd Place – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB21 – +0.182s:
“It could have been close for pole – but it is hard when there is a car just cruising two seconds in front. It has been noted.”
3rd Place – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team, Mercedes, MCL39 – +0.366s:
“I don’t think we had four tenths in it to get pole.”
