F1 – Norris takes Singapore pole ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton as Ferrari suffer tough qualifying

Lando Norris took his fifth pole of 2024 in Singapore, beating championship leader Max Verstappen by just over two tenths of a second as Ferrari endured a tough outing with Carlos Sainz crashing at the start of Q3 and Charles Leclerc having his final lap time deleted for a track limits infringement. Lewis Hamilton was third for Mercedes.

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“It was tough,” said Norris afterwards. “Especially through qualifying, I was finding it a little difficult to progress much and to get a lot of lap time and all the guys around seemed to get quicker and quicker, so it put me under a little bit more pressure, and especially with just one lap at the end. But it was good enough for pole. I’m happy with that, especially here in Singapore. So a good feeling. I felt good all weekend. I felt confident. Maybe not so much in quali, but we got the job done.”

In Q1, Norris took top spot with a lap of 1:30.724 ahead of Leclerc. Oscar Piastri took third ahead of Sainz and Alex Albon. With 12 minutes left in the session, Verstappen at last joined the action but it proved worth the wait as he jumped from the bottom of the table to P2 thanks to a lap of 1:30.854, 0.130s off Norris. Leclerc then found slightly more time on his second run to demote the Dutchman to third.

With three minutes left the final runs got underway and Norris immediately tightened his grip on P1 with a lap of 1:30.002 on used tyres. Verstappen also bolted on a new set of C5s and he lit up the timing screens as he jumped from P8 to P2 at the flag. The Dutchman went through to Q2 just 0.155s behind Norris. Piastri took third ahead of Hamilton.

There was no place in the second session for RB’s Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian was eliminated in P16, just over a tenth off Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. Behind Ricciardo, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll exited in P17 ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and the Sauber’s of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

At the start of Q2 Verstappen took P1 with a lap of 1:30.371, but a snap in the final corner sent him over the kerbs and his time was subsequently deleted for track limits. It was left to Hamilton to lead the way with a lap of 1:29.929, 0.078 ahead of Norris and with George Russell in third place in the other Mercedes.

With six minutes left on the clock, Verstappen headed out for a final run on a largely clear track and thanks to a strong lap of 1:29.680 and a purple middle sector the Dutchman jumped to top spot, 0.289s clear of Hamilton. Piastri had pace in hand, however, and he bumped the Dutchman back to P2 as he claimed top spot with a lap of 1:29.640. Leclerc slotted into third ahead of Hamilton and Norris, who backed out of his final run.

Outside the top 10, Williams pair Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto were eliminated in P11 and P12 respectively, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen dropped out in P14 ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

At the start of the top-10 shootout, Verstappen was one of the first out on track and the Dutchman posted a lap of 1:29.791. However, just as he was coming to final corners, ahead of him on track Carlos Sainz lost control in the final corner and slid backwards into the wall. Verstappen slowed and crossed the line before the red flag, but with double yellows already in place, his time was deleted.

The red flag for Sainz meant that the only drivers to put times on board were Piastri, who took P1 on 1:30.037 and Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg, who was eight tenths off the McLaren. The rest were faced with a single run for glory.

And in the final runs Norris was imperious. The McLaren drivers were first on track and Norris established what became an unbeatable benchmark of 1:29.525 ahead of Piastri. Behind them, Leclerc had his lap time deleted as Hülkenberg took P3, and then Hamilton vaulted to the front row on a time of 1:29.841.

It was left to Verstappen to challenge Norris’ time but though the Red Bull driver gave it his all his 1:29.728 was only good enough to hand him a first front row since his home race at Zandvoort.

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