F1 Grand Prix qualifying results: Leclerc takes Singapore GP pole

Leclerc will start ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes after the one-hour session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

Weather conditions were wet under the floodlights, but the track dried in time for cars to run on slicks in Q3. Championship leader Max Verstappen suffered a nightmare when he was forced to abort his final lap, after being ordered to by his team, and he will start down in eighth position.

Singapore Grand Prix qualifying results: Leclerc on pole from Perez

What happened in Singapore Grand Prix Q1?

Lewis Hamilton set the early pace for Mercedes at 1m56.937s, with all cars running intermediates from the off. Team-mate George Russell lowered the P1 time to 1m55.842s before Leclerc set 1m55.054s and then had a quick off-track excursion.

As the track dried, the times tumbled: Hamilton retook top spot with 1m54.689s, which was beaten by Verstappen with 1m54.395s and then Leclerc with 1m54.222s and then 1m54.129s. Hamilton grabbed it back again with 1m53.161s, before Verstappen set an unbeatable 1m53.057s on his last lap.

Falling at the first hurdle were Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Williams duo Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi.

Singapore Grand Prix Q1 results: Verstappen fastest from Hamilton

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1'53.057			161.217
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1'53.161	0.104	0.104	161.069
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1'54.129	1.072	0.968	159.703
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	1'54.404	1.347	0.275	159.319
5	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1'54.559	1.502	0.155	159.104
6	George Russell	Mercedes	1'54.633	1.576	0.074	159.001
7	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1'55.103	2.046	0.470	158.352
8	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	1'55.314	2.257	0.211	158.062
9	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	1'55.360	2.303	0.046	157.999
10	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	1'55.375	2.318	0.015	157.978
11	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	1'55.602	2.545	0.227	157.668
12	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	1'55.606	2.549	0.004	157.663
13	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1'55.629	2.572	0.023	157.631
14	Mick Schumacher	Haas	1'55.736	2.679	0.107	157.486
15	Lando Norris	McLaren	1'55.914	2.857	0.178	157.244
16	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	1'56.083	3.026	0.169	157.015
17	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	1'56.226	3.169	0.143	156.822
18	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1'56.337	3.280	0.111	156.672
19	Alex Albon	Williams	1'56.985	3.928	0.648	155.804
20	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	1'57.532	4.475	0.547	155.079
View full results

What happened in Singapore Grand Prix Q2?

Still on intermediates, Leclerc set the bar at 1m52.343s, 0.34s ahead of Hamilton and 0.38s in front of Verstappen. For the final runs, a couple of drivers gambled on slicks with others using well-worn inters, but the frontrunners didn’t improve anyway.

Knocked out at this point were – surprisingly – Russell, slick-shod Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Mick Schumacher (Haas), Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin, who went off on his last lap on slicks) and Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo, also on slicks at the end).

Singapore Grand Prix Q2 results: Leclerc fastest from Hamilton

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1'52.343			162.242
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1'52.691	0.348	0.348	161.741
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1'52.723	0.380	0.032	161.695
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	1'52.818	0.475	0.095	161.559
5	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	1'53.127	0.784	0.309	161.118
6	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1'53.219	0.876	0.092	160.987
7	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	1'53.546	1.203	0.327	160.523
8	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	1'53.848	1.505	0.302	160.097
9	Lando Norris	McLaren	1'53.942	1.599	0.094	159.965
10	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1'54.006	1.663	0.064	159.875
11	George Russell	Mercedes	1'54.012	1.669	0.006	159.867
12	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1'54.211	1.868	0.199	159.588
13	Mick Schumacher	Haas	1'54.370	2.027	0.159	159.366
14	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	1'54.380	2.037	0.010	159.353
15	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	1'55.518	3.175	1.138	157.783
View full results

What happened in Singapore Grand Prix Q3?

The majority of the field went for soft slicks and were fuelled up for the whole session. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) set the early pace on intermediates before Hamilton smashed his time by over two seconds with 1m53.082s.

Verstappen got within 1.2s, but Hamilton went faster again with 1m51.019s. Verstappen’s next lap was 0.376s slower.

Leclerc was first into the 1m49s with 1m49.412s, 0.171s ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, as Verstappen aborted a seemingly faster lap. Perez snatched P2, just 0.022s off Leclerc as Hamilton grabbed third with 1m49.466s.

But the big story was Verstappen aborting again, after being told to pit by his team, stranding him down in eighth.

Sainz will start fourth, ahead of Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Lando Norris (McLaren), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Verstappen, Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Tsunoda.

Singapore Grand Prix Q3 results: Leclerc takes pole