Marco Rossi · F1 Correspondent
An evening with two stories: the day's fastest lap time and an investigation that could still call Red Bull's triumph into question.
Max Verstappen secured pole position for Saturday's sprint on the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Friday with a 1:31.156, beating George Russell by 0.120 seconds. The session, however, was overshadowed by a crash, a timing glitch, a stewards' error, and a possible rules violation by Verstappen under yellow flags that the race commissioners have yet to rule on.
Verstappen Ahead of Russell: Red Bull Turns the Tables
After the first free practice session, where George Russell was still on top with Mercedes, the picture shifted dramatically during sprint qualifying. Verstappen set the fastest time in SQ3, just ahead of Russell and Charles Leclerc, who finished third with a 0.243-second deficit. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris rounded out a tight McLaren pairing in fourth and fifth, while Lewis Hamilton placed sixth and admitted he'd miscalculated his run plan in SQ3. He also lacked grip at the rear on the soft compound tires.
Notable in the midfield: Liam Lawson brought Racing Bulls home in eighth, just ahead of second Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar, whose lap time in SQ3 was deleted for exceeding track limits, leaving him ninth. Pierre Gasly suffered the same fate in tenth. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who had arrived in Singapore as the championship leader, couldn't get past seventh, a result that's hardly a disaster for the Mercedes youngster but shows how tight the field is between third and ninth.
Red Flag and Timing Chaos in SQ1
The session was interrupted early after Sergio Pérez crashed his Cadillac into the barrier in SQ1, damaging the front wing and triggering a red flag. Pérez and his teammate Valtteri Bottas ended up in 20th and 21st, well off the pace.
After the stoppage, a second incident occurred, according to the FIA: due to a human error in race control, the so-called Overtake Mode, which grants drivers additional hybrid power, was initially unavailable after the red flag. According to the FIA, this affected performance of individual cars depending on when and where they were on the lap. According to Motorsport Week, Lance Stroll, who exited in SQ1, may have been impacted, though the FIA named no drivers. Regardless, SQ2's start was delayed because timing had failed to capture some lap times from SQ1.
Yellow Flag Row Between Verstappen and Hamilton
A yellow flag incident during SQ1 added further drama when Verstappen passed Hamilton. The Ferrari driver reported the move immediately over team radio with the words "Max overtook me under a yellow flag," prompting race stewards to open an investigation. Verstappen radioed that he'd let Hamilton through and said he believed he'd passed him before the yellow flag came out, but wanted to be safe.
According to FIA documents, both Verstappen and Hamilton were called before the stewards for an alleged yellow flag violation, with the hearing set for 22:15 local time. A decision was pending at press time. It could cost Verstappen the pole retroactively, a situation that initially dampens the Red Bull camp's celebration of the fastest time. For Russell, second place on the sprint grid remains only a partial success anyway: he must start from the back on Sunday due to excess power unit components after the engine failure at the Malaysian race, which puts his strong Friday in perspective for the championship. How Red Bull and the stewards handle the yellow flag question and whether Russell can gain ground in the sprint itself will become clear on Saturday.
