Leclerc’s late charge was the difference-maker.
SINGAPORE—When it seemed that Lewis Hamilton was going to take his first front row position this year, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc posted a final flying lap of 1:49:412 to take pole for Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished second, while Hamilton grabbed third in his Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc: An amazing crowd, and it’s great to see so many people attending the event. It’s been a very tricky qualifying Q1 and Q2. Then, in Q3, we didn’t know what to do. We went for the softs at the very last minute, and it paid off.
Carlos Sainz took fourth in the second Ferrari, with an impressive Fernando Alonso in fifth with his Alpine. Lando Norris finished sixth in the McLaren, while Pierre Gasly, at the last moment, took seventh in his Alpha Tauri. Kevin Magnussen in the Haas, and Yuki Tsunoda in the second Alpha Tauri, completed the top ten.
The street circuit was tricky all evening as earlier rain showers made some corners dry and others wet, and Max Verstappen was one driver who could not master the situation. Considering the Dutchman was up near the top of the qualifying, the last minutes of the final session had many drivers change from intermediates to slick tires. But Verstappen could not adapt to the change, whereas Hamilton and finally Leclerc were able to capitalize. Verstappen ended up eighth.
Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, made a last-minute effort to put his Red Bull into second. And with only a few minutes to go, Leclerc grabbed an opportunity for a dry track and less traffic to score another pole position with 0.054 seconds between the top three finishers.
Eliminations earmarked the qualifying sessions. Valtteri Bottas in his Alfa Romeo, Estaban Ocon in the Alpine, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, and the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi were out in the first. In the second session, Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin, Mick Schumacher in the Haas, Zhou Guanyu in the Alfa Romeo, and Mercedes’s George Russell were eliminated from qualifying.
ESPN2 will televise Sunday’s race starting at 8a Eastern time.
