Russell Stuns with Pole Position in Singapore

George Russell, without making much noise and like a freight train, secured pole position in Singapore, his second of the season, ahead of Max Verstappen who fell short and Oscar Piastri who expected more. The reigning world champion has yet to win on this circuit and, having taken the last two races, he aims for everything.

The Spanish drivers experienced a slight drop compared to their expectations. Carlos Sainz didn't even make it to Q3 and will start 13th, while Fernando Alonso, who didn't drop out of the top 5 on Friday, returned to reality. He will start 10th, with points being his most realistic target.

It's not unusual to see a classification where everything is decided in the final moments due to the improvement of the track conditions. On circuits where races are held at night, it's common for the drop in temperature to improve tyre performance, thus lowering lap times. This makes the final minutes of the session more important than the first.

This factor multiplies its importance when there's a yellow flag on the track. In this case, it was Pierre Gasly who, due to a hydraulic failure in his Alpine, had to stop at the wall of turn 11. This required neutralising that sector, which increased the workload for the marshals as they had to check which drivers were improving their times and, if they did so at the yellow flag point, remove their times.

One who didn't improve was Fernando Alonso, whose good lap was ruined by this yellow flag. The Asturian had already set a sufficient lap to advance, but had to wait until a while after the flag to confirm his passage to Q2, albeit with the 14th fastest time. Sainz also advanced, despite not being able to complete his second good lap due to the incident occurring just as he was doing it.

With Hamilton being the fastest almost as a formality, those eliminated were Bortoleto, Stroll, Colapinto, Ocon, and Gasly.

After waiting a few extra minutes until Gasly's crashed Alpine was removed, almost everyone went out on track to secure an early lap and avoid further scares. One who waited was Hamilton, as he had used a set of soft tyres in Q1, and it worked out moderately well for him. Not so for his teammate Leclerc, who hit the same wall at turn 14 twice. A big scare for one of the candidates—on paper—for pole later.

But in this battle, the Mercedes drivers quietly made their presence felt. Antonelli, very aggressive, and Russell put pressure on the McLarens and Verstappen, the theoretical favourites this Saturday. The pressure was on the Woking team, who are competing for the constructors' title this weekend... especially because the track stopped improving in the final moments. Of those who went out with 2 minutes remaining, almost no one improved, which hurt Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, whose Williams were left out of Q3. Alonso, being more cautious, crossed the cut with his first time of the session. Those eliminated were Hulkenberg, the aforementioned Williams drivers—Sainz will start 13th, ten positions behind in Baku—, Lawson, and Tsunoda. The fastest was Russell, but only 10 milliseconds faster than Verstappen: quite a statement of intent.

Russell took just one attempt to make it clear that his bid for pole was serious. The Briton set a 1:29.165 which, on paper, could be the pole. But there were still several to speak. For example, Verstappen, who was 175 milliseconds behind, or Piastri, who, as the World Championship leader, knows he has a lot at stake this weekend. Both the Mercedes and McLaren drivers brushed the walls on their laps... but it was worth it.

And Russell, who improved his time by 7 milliseconds, managed to hold the best time this Saturday because Verstappen didn't do the same. The Dutchman, despite his frustration, was more than satisfied with this 2nd time in qualifying, as he still aims to secure his first victory in Singapore this Sunday. Once again, the reigning world champion delivered a strong performance ahead of the McLarens, with Piastri starting 3rd and Norris, once again disappointing, 5th.

Alonso's 10th fastest time was disappointing, as shown by the frustration with which he crossed the finish line. The Asturian had higher hopes this Friday after the practice sessions.