@Carlossainz55 storms to #SingaporeGP pole as disaster strikes @RedBullRacing. #F1

Sainz Singapore GP Pole – Carlos Sainz stormed to pole position in a sensational qualifying session at the Singapore GP, narrowly ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc with the top three covered by under 0.080 seconds whilst trouble struck Red Bull pairing Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez who failed to make Q3.

In Q3, Sainz held provisional pole with two purples in sectors two and three, setting a 1:31.570 benchmark and was 0.251 seconds quicker with McLaren’s Lando Norris who was fastest in sector one, a further 0.369 seconds adrift in third whilst the two Mercedes of George Russell and Sir Lewis Hamilton were fourth and fifth respectively.

In the final flying laps, Sainz managed to better his effort with a 1:30.984 to claim his second-consecutive pole after securing Saturday’s spoils as Ferrari’s home Grand Prix at Monza.

Norris split the Prancing Horse pairing to clinch provisional second in a quickfire of final hot-laps, but Leclerc put the McLaren driver back into his place to reclaim a provisional Ferrari front-row lockout – just only 0.079 seconds shy of Sainz’s benchmark.

But Russell, who had been a step in-front of Mercedes team-mate Hamilton throughout the weekend, posted the best sector two to threaten Sainz’s advantage, but lost a bit of time in sector three to claim second place for tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix.

Leclerc would have to be content with third and will start on the second row of the grid alongside Norris, who was the sole MCL60 entry in Q3 as McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri was eliminated in Q1.

Hamilton was fifth alongside Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen, who put his Ferrari-powered VF-23 up into an impressive sixth.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso also improved on his final flyer to take seventh with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon eighth, Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg ninth and AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson rounding out the top ten.

In the second qualifying segment, which was topped by Russell, AlphaTauri’s Lawson’s late improvement knocked out reigning world champion Max Verstappen by a very narrow 0.007 seconds in 11^th meaning the Dutchman was the big shock elimination of the session along with his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez who suffered a spin, was also knocked out in 13^th.

This was the first time since the 2018 Russian Grand Prix that neither Red Bull’s reached Q3 and Verstappen is also currently under investigation by the stewards for a number of impediments.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly split the Red Bull pairing in 12^th whilst Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda ended up in 14^th and 15^th respectively.

In the opening qualifying stage, which was topped by Tsunoda, the session ended under a red flag following a horrific shunt by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

The Canadian rode over the kerb in-between turns 18 and the final corner, suffering a spin, and ended up straight into the wall front-on with his car ending up on the main-straight destroying his front wing, the rear wing and front-left of the AMR23 racer. Thankfully Stroll was ok after speaking to his team over the radio.

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was the quickest of the Q1 eliminatees in 16^th and in-front of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who placed 17^th and Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant who qualified 18^th.

The other Alfa Romeo C43 entry of Zhou Guanyu and the aforementioned Stroll brought up the rear.

A number of drivers are under investigation by the stewards for traffic impediments, which could affect the order for the grid.

You can see the full Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2023 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1219/singapore/qualifying.html

2023 Singapore GP Qualifying – The Top Three

2023 Singapore GP Pole – Carlos Sainz, #55, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-23, 1:30.984:

“Again, a bit like in Monza, hit the ground running from FP1 and felt really confident. Was a messy session for everyone but we kept the focus, put in the lap and grabbed the pole position. We have a very good car in certain tracks and certain conditions, we know our weakness is always race pace, but we are definitely making progress.”

2^nd Place – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, +0.072:

“Definitely a challenged session, being sat in that car is like being sat in a sauna. I felt really confident in the car, we are on an offset strategy, we have an extra set of mediums on everyone else so to be on the front row and have that extra set… The track is different this year, the tyre degradation on Friday looked bad so it could be a two-stop.”

3^rd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-23, +0.079:

“It’s always a balance between the first and last sector, everything was super close, Mercedes were strong too. Unfortunately, I missed a little bit to gain some positions, but Carlos did a great job. The physical challenge tomorrow will be something for sure.”

In the earlier FP3 session it was Ferrari’s Sainz once again topping the time-sheets ahead of Mercedes’ Russell who was second and McLaren’s Norris who rounded out the top three, whilst the championship leader of Verstappen took fourth for Red Bull and the other Ferrari SF-23 entry of Leclerc rounded out the top five. You can see the full Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2023 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1219/singapore/practice-3.html

#SingaporeGP FP2: @Carlossainz55 pips team-mate @CharlesLeclerc by 0.018 seconds. #F1

#SingaporeGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc heads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two. #F1

#F1 Singapore Airlines #SingaporeGP 2023 Preview. #Formula1 #SingaporeGrandPrix