Red Bull explain 'decisive' Max Verstappen one-lap gamble in Singapore

Max Verstappen's call to attempt just one timed lap in the final phase of sprint qualifying in Singapore proved "decisive" in securing pole position for Saturday's sprint, according to Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies.

Verstappen set a time of one minute 31.156s in SQ3 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, enough to beat George Russell's Mercedes by 0.120s and Charles Leclerc's Ferrari by 0.243s, both of whom had instead opted for two flying laps on their soft tyres rather than committing to a single effort late in the eight-minute segment.

Mekies revealed that the strategy stemmed directly from Verstappen himself, after Red Bull had used SQ1 and SQ2 to experiment with the medium compound before switching to the mandated softs in SQ3, a tyre the four-time F1 champion had not sampled in first practice.

Speaking to F1TV, Mekies explained the thinking behind the approach. "Honestly, it was Max. He was very decisive on that," he said.

"We experimented a bit with the medium tyres in SQ1 and SQ2. In SQ1 we did a build-up. In SQ2 we didn't, and ultimately he was very clear after, that for the soft tyre, which he had not run because we didn't run it in FP1, he wanted a single lap, and that's what he did.

"We were expecting the guys [from other teams] to do different things, and as I said, Max was very decisive. The engineering team was also very decisive behind him.

"Nonetheless, we were expecting different cars to do different things, but well done to him, well done to them. It proved to be the right thing."

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Mekies - Good when it's confirmed

Mekies conceded there was no certainty the single-lap gamble would pay off as rivals pursued alternative approaches around a track where track evolution can reward whoever times their effort to the closing seconds of a session.

Asked whether he felt his team had nailed the approach once he saw others going for two timed laps, the Frenchman was candid.

"Not really," he remarked.

"At that stage you don't know who's going to be right and who's going to be wrong. But we were convinced that for us it was the best way around the lap, and yeah, it's good when it's confirmed."

McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris completed the top five, with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton due to line up sixth ahead of championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes.