Norris roars to Singapore pole as Ferrari challenge implodes

Lando Norris will start the Singapore Grand Prix on pole position, with championship rival Max Verstappen riding shotgun on the front-row. 

After Carlos Sainz crashed heavily at the start of Q3, the pole shootout effectively became a one-lap affair, with the field waiting until the death to embark on their laps. 

Norris pumped in a 1:29.525 to record the 299th pole by a British driver in F1, with Verstappen joining his title rival on the front-row after Red Bull's struggles through the weekend up until this point. 

After also struggling for pace throughout, Lewis Hamilton found pace in Q2 and backed it up in Q3 to grab third place, with George Russell fourth as Ferrari's challenge was dented with Charles Leclerc losing his lap-time to start ninth, with Sainz 10th at best following his crash.

Sergio Perez was only 13th, with the under pressure Daniel Ricciardo 16th and out in Q1.

Q3

Piastri was the first driver to set a time in Q3 before the Sainz crash, as Verstappen's opening gambit was deleted as he passed through the section seconds after Sainz crashed.

The Red Bull driver backed off significantly and will not see the stewards, as Sainz's crash turned the session into a one-lap shootout.

Piastri tried again but could only do a 1:29.953 on this second attempt as Norris blitzed it with the 1:29.525 that earned him pole for the sixth time - equalling world champions Alan Jones, Emerson Fittipaldi and Phil Hill.

Verstappen pipped Hamilton by 0.087 for a front-row slot, with the seven-time world champion continuing his record of always having qualified inside the top five at Marina Bay.

Russell was fourth, ahead of Piastri in sixth and Nico Hulkenberg the top-powered Ferrari driver in sixth, ahead of Fernando Alonso in seventh. 

Yuki Tsunoda took eighth as Leclerc's lap-time was deleted for track limits, leaving him ninth with the crashed Sainz 10th - although he could drop lower if any penalties are incurred.

Perez fails to make Q3

Perez qualified in 13th for the second straight year in Singapore, falling in Q2 as Red Bull's woes continued. 

He was out-qualified by nearly a tenth by both Williams drivers with Alex Albon in 11th and Franco Colapinto sharing the sixth row. 

They were joined by the returning Kevin Magnussen in 14th and Esteban Ocon in 15th as Alonso squeaked through for Aston Martin in 10th. 

Up front, Mercedes suddenly showed a burst of pace as Hamilton became the first driver to dip under the 90-second barrier on his first push lap, and eventually ended the segment in fourth place. 

He was bested by Piastri, Verstappen and Leclerc, with the Australian pumping in a 1:29.640, some 0.040s faster than Verstappen in the Red Bull.

Verstappen's first lap time was deleted after he ran all four wheels off the track at the final Turn 19, doing well to avoid a head-on crash with the tyre barrier, in the same way Lance Stroll did in the 2023 event.

Ricciardo dumped in Q1

Ricciardo, whose future at RB is in doubt was the big-name casualty of Q1, falling 0.127s short of Ocon in the final Q2 spot. 

The RB driver, who looked strong in practice, failed to post a strong second lap as track evolution ramped up, leaving him facing what could be the last race of his career from a P16 grid spot. 

Elsewhere, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were also eliminated, Zhou nearly half-a-second slower than Bottas as the Stakes make up the back-row.

Up front, Norris pumped in a 1:30.002 on the second runs on the same set of soft tyres as his first attempt to set the pace, with Verstappen, Piastri, Hamilton and Perez slotting in behind as an irate Russell blasted the feeling of the Pirelli tyres saying they were "completely different" to the feeling in FP3, where he finished second.

Sainz also earned the attention of the stewards after going wide at Turn 1 and not rejoining as mandated by race director Niels Wittich by going around a bollard.