Max Verstappen has first Singapore pole in his sights with Lewis Hamilton fearing massive grid drop

Max Verstappen thrust himself firmly into contention for a third consecutive pole position, and a first for the Singapore Grand Prix, after a final practice session Liam Lawson again crashed.

For Lawson, it was another horrific session. After crashing in second practice with a heavy hit into a wall with the right-hand side of his Racing Bulls, the New Zealander destroyed that side of his car again with another hard smash.

On this occasion, Lawson ran over the kerb on the exit of Turn 7, propelling him out of shape as he tried to recover, but only to hit a wall and leave his team with another major rebuild in time for qualifying at 2100 local time [1000 EDT, 1400 BST, 1500 CET].

That incident has additionally sparked a post-session investigation for Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton for a red-flag infringement. If found guilty, it will lead to a 10-place grid penalty.

By the end of the hour-long run at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Verstappen, with a new front wing on his Red Bull, netted top spot with a lap of 1:30.148s.

Astonishingly, the top five drivers were separated by just 0.089s, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri second quickest, just 0.017s down after a very late flier, followed by surprising Mercedes pair George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, with Lando Norris bringing up the rear of that quintet.

Following a heavily disrupted FP2 on Friday, in which two red flags accounted for 22 minutes of the hour, there was an obvious need for many drivers to hit the track as soon as possible.

Two of those were championship contenders Norris and Piastri, who set the pace on medium rubber early on with laps of 1:32.379s and 1:32.554s respectively before the Williams pair of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon turned to the softs.

Sainz, in particular, was quick with a lap of 1:31.960s, before a second medium-tyre lap from Norris propelled him to the top of the timesheet by the time the session was red-flagged. At that stage, a second lap on the softs from Sainz pushed him to 0.332s off the pace.

Five drivers - Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, Russell and Antonelli, along with Verstappen - had not set a time at that point.

That quintet wasted no further opportunity to get times on the board. Verstappen's first flier, in particular, was 0.505s behind Norris on the medium tyres. Alonso, in contrast, opted for a short high-fuel run and was 5.470s off the pace with 25 minutes remaining.

At that stage, Antonelli went top with the second quickest lap of the weekend to that point with a 1:30.760s on soft Pirellis.

For a period, there was a lull, with little improvement being made, given the run plans of the teams before the session ramped up in the final 15 minutes for the low-fuel, soft-tyre, qualifying simulation runs.

Leclerc was the first to show his hand with a 1:30.651s, followed by Hadjar 0.028s adrift before Norris smashed his way to the top by 0.335s ahead of Piastri, who had followed his team-mate over the line.

Verstappen, however, proved he will definitely be in the shake-up by posting a 1:30.148s, with Russell also suggesting he could be in the mix as his lap saw him just 0.049s down. On a late lap, Antonelli managed to finish 0.089s off the pace for the third-best lap.

Piastri sneaked in at the death, whilst Norris also finished close, but it was Verstappen who held sway to the conclusion.

Sainz and Hadjar were sixth and seventh, followed by Hamilton, 0.411s down, with Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Leclerc completing the top 10, the latter half a second adrift.

Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda was a miserable 18th, 1.292s adrift, with only Alpine's Pierre Gasly effectively slower, given Lawson had crashed out early.