Friday (the 9th) at the Singapore Grand Prix put Max Verstappen back at the center of Formula 1’s attention. The Dutchman surprised everyone by taking pole for the Sprint at Marina Bay, while Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren showed enough pace to keep the contest open for a Saturday that will feature the Sprint and, just a few hours later, the qualifying for the main race.
The day began with George Russell leading the lone free practice session of the weekend, on a lap of 1:32.274, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris. Verstappen appeared only sixth at that stage and even lost time in the pits due to a radio issue, but the scene changed completely at night: in SQ3, the Red Bull driver posted 1:31.156, beating Russell by 0.120s. Leclerc finished third, followed by the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Norris.
Qualifying Sprint also had an unusual interruption. A problem in the timing system caused some laps not to be properly recorded at the end of SQ1, creating uncertainty about the qualifiers and delaying the start of SQ2 by almost 20 minutes. The FIA confirmed the fault, corrected the times, and allowed the session to continue.
Verstappen was still investigated for overtaking Lewis Hamilton during a yellow-flag period after Sergio Perez’s crash, but the stewards decided not to impose a penalty. With that, the four-time world champion kept the Sprint pole and will share the front row with Russell.
In the technical hinterland, Mercedes ended the day with a notable issue to solve. Russell finished second while using the old specification of the W17, while Kimi Antonelli, the leader of the championship, was only seventh with the car that had been used to evaluate the updates. The team itself admitted that the stopwatch has not yet shown a clear advantage for the new parts, although the data also do not conclusively indicate that the package is not working well.
Ferrari and McLaren also left Friday with reasons to believe an approach could be possible. Leclerc and Hamilton had been first and second in SQ2, but lost ground when everyone moved to Soft tires in SQ3, while Piastri and Norris secured places in the top five. Hamilton admitted that he chose a different lap plan and assessed that he had made a mistake in the decision.
Gabriel Bortoleto managed to reach SQ2 after escaping elimination at the end of the first phase, but finished the Sprint Qualifying in 14th. The Sprint starts on Saturday at 6:00 a.m., Brasília time (GMT-3), and the qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix will be held at 10:00 a.m.
