@CharlesLeclerc claims pole in slippery #SingaporeGP qualifying. #F1

Leclerc Singapore GP Pole – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc clinched pole position at wild wet-to-dry Singapore GP qualifying session beating Red Bull’s Sergio Perez by a narrow 0.022 seconds, whilst points leader Max Verstappen wound up eighth after being told to abort his final flyer.

 

 

After heavy rain soaked the Marina Bay Street Circuit ahead of FP3 and meant the session was shortened to half-an-hour, Q1 began with patches of water around the track, but the majority dry.

 

This meant the front-runners ran the green-branded intermediates to get through to the final qualifying stage before finally the majority swapped to the softs – with all cars fuelled to circulate through each session to take advantage of the drying conditions and rapid track evolution.

 

In Q3, Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton lead the way with an initial 1:53.082 effort that bettered AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda first tour and still running the intermediates.

 

Hamilton, Leclerc and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso traded first places throughout the mid-part of qualifying, whilst Verstappen showed solid pace in sector one before he regularly lost out with big slides in the still-damp spots in the third sector.

 

Leclerc’s pole-taking 1:49.412 effort came with under a minute left on the clock, but his rivals could not challenge him at a Grand Prix where he could lose the 2022 title-battle with Verstappen.

 

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez moved into second, before Hamilton set a purple sector two to briefly threaten Leclerc’s pole spot before he dropped back on the final sequence of corners and ended up third.

 

The other Ferrari F1-75 entry of Carlos Sainz placed fourth and in-front of Alonso, McLaren’s Lando Norris and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and then was championship leader Verstappen.

 

The Dutchman abandoned his final two tours – the first after a solid sector one, but a slide at turn 18 meant he backed off for one final shot at the pole.

 

Verstappen was close but was unable to better his previous personal best effort and was ordered to pit by Red Bull and not complete the flyer as the Dutchman was left frustrated.

 

Verstappen later confirmed he was close to running out of fuel.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen like Tsunoda began Q3 on intermediate rubber but switched to the softs much earlier than the Japanese driver – the duo wounding up ninth and tenth respectively.

 

In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Leclerc, Mercedes’ George Russell missed out on a Q3 appearance by a very narrow 0.006 seconds and starts 11^th on the grid.

 

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel qualified in 12^th and 14^th as their soft tyre gamble did not pay off with Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher splitting the pairing in 13^th.

 

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was the slowest of the Q2 runners in 16^th.

 

In the opening segment, which was topped by Verstappen, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was relegated to the quickest of the Q1 eliminatees after a last-lap improvement from Schumacher and will start 16^th.

 

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo qualified a low-17^th and in-front of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who took 18^th as the Williams Racing pairing of Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi brought up the rear.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2022 Qualifying results classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1133/singapore/qualifying.html

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2022 Singapore GP Qualifying – The Top Three

 

 

2022 Singapore GP Pole Position – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, F1-75, 1:49.412:

“It’s been a very, very tricky qualifying. In Q3 we didn’t know what to do, we went for the soft at the last minute. I made a mistake in my last lap, so I didn’t think I’d get pole, but it was just enough. Considering the Friday we had, we recovered well. We don’t have much data for the race but I’m sure we can win.”

 

2^nd Place – Sergio Perez, #11, Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT, RB18, +0.022:

“It’s a good opportunity to attack Charles [from P2] and go for the win. I was disappointed to miss out on pole by two hundredths. It was so tricky to learn the conditions today and tomorrow could be wet…”

 

3^rd Place – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W13 E Performance, +0.054:

“I was pushing so hard, it was so, so close. These guys are so quick, but I thought with a perfect lap we could fight for first place, but I just didn’t have the grip in the last lap. We didn’t know how close we’d be this weekend, to lose out by just that bit – it’s okay, we’ll get up and fight again tomorrow.”

 

In the earlier FP3 session, Leclerc topped the time-sheets ahead of title-rival Verstappen who was second for Red Bull and Ferrari team-mate Sainz rounded out the top three as Alpine’s Alonso placed fourth and Perez completed the top five. You can see the full Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2022 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1133/singapore/practice-3.html