Verstappen starts the “pole” in the Singapore GP sprint race

Ctain the good time of Max Verstappen. Days after getting the first win of the season, the Dutch Red Bull reached this friday-fair (october 9th) the pole position for the Formula 1 Singapore GP sprint race.

The session, played at night on the Marina Bay circuit, came to have a red flag in the first part (SQ1), due to a slight loss of Sergio Pérez (Cadillac/Ferrari) who left debris on the asphalt.

In the re-up, Verstappen made the best record in front of Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), but did not improve against his brand in free training. The last six were eliminated, in a lot of pilots where the biggest surprise was the 17th place of Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls/Ford).

The SQ2 began with a slight delay and saw Leclerc dictate the rhythm in front of Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), while Max Verstappen did not go beyond fifth. George Russell (Mercedes) had to suffer, but secured the clearance despite having blocked the braking on his second attempt. The last to be ascertained was Pierre Gasly (Alpine/Mercedes) for only 94 milliseconds.

The remaining ten drivers competed in the pole position for the Sprint race on the SQ3, where Max Verstappen just needed a try to get around that earned him a pole position (1m31,156 seconds).

The world's top champion beat George Russell (Mercedes), who only managed to stay at 120 thousandths of a second. Leclerc came to be on top, but ended in third, following the McLaren of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. The top five fit in less than half a second.

Lewis Hamilton, in sixth place, ahead of the Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) championship leader – which was 0.693 seconds slower than Max Verstappen. Liam Lawson was faster than Isack Hadjar (Red Bull/Ford) in Racing Bulls, Pierre Gasly tenth.

The drivers return to the track in Singapore this Saturday for the Sprint race and the qualification that sets the grid for the main race. This event will take place on Sunday at 1 p.m. (Portugal time, minus one in the Azores).