Verstappen doubles up in Singapore with sprint win and 50th pole
Max Verstappen will start the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position after beating Charles Leclerc by five-hundredths of a second on Saturday, 10 October, hours after winning a rain-delayed sprint race.
Verstappen set a 1min 31.373sec on his first run in Q3, the final shootout for the top 10 places on the grid, and it held for pole. It was the 50th pole of his career and his first in Singapore, per official timing The Guardian. Leclerc took second for Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton was third in the other Ferrari.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli qualified fourth for Mercedes. Lando Norris was fifth for McLaren. George Russell was sixth on track for Mercedes but will start from the back of the grid.
Russell’s penalty is for taking a new engine beyond the permitted allocation for the season. Teams are limited to a set number of engines per year. Go over, and the rules send you to the back.
Saturday had already delivered plenty. The sprint — a short dash, about a third of a Grand Prix distance, with extra championship points on offer — was delayed by heavy rain. When it finally started, Russell jumped Verstappen into the first corner to take the lead.
It did not last a lap. Russell put his wheels on the white line at the final corner in the wet conditions, spun and hit the barriers. He was out on the spot. Verstappen inherited the lead and drove on to win.
That was his first win of any kind in Singapore Al Jazeera. Hamilton finished second after launching from sixth to third off the line at the start. Verstappen had already beaten Russell and Leclerc to start that sprint from the front Formula 1.
For fans, this means the title fight took another small swing. Antonelli led Russell by 84 points after Russell suffered an engine failure at the previous round in Malaysia. After the Singapore sprint, that gap stands at 89 points.
Russell had looked quick. He topped the sole practice session ahead of Leclerc and Norris. Now he faces a recovery drive through the field on Sunday.
