Charles Leclerc will start from pole position for Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix – taking back-to-back poles at the Marina Bay Circuit – as he made the most of tricky wet/dry conditions to place his Ferrari at the top of the table.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez will start alongside him in second, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz making up the second row.
The times were incredibly close at the top with first to fourth covered by just over a tenth and a half.
Max Verstappen, who could win the title this weekend, was left in a very unhappy mood when he was forced to abandon his flying lap – which would have been quick enough for pole.
“Why? What the f**k. Why? What the f**k! What the f**k are you guys saying. I don’t get what the f**k is this is about!” That was Verstappen’s reaction over team radio.
The Dutchman starts eighth ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda.
You can read our full session report here.
See the full results from qualifying below.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:49.412 | |||
| 2 |
 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1:49.434 | 0.022 | ||
| 3 |
 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:49.466 | 0.054 | ||
| 4 |
 | Carlos Sainz Jr | Ferrari | 1:49.583 | 0.171 | ||
| 5 |
| Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 1:49.966 | 0.554 | ||
| 6 |
| Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:50.584 | 1.172 | ||
| 7 |
 | Pierre Gasly | RB | 1:51.211 | 1.799 | ||
| 8 |
 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:51.395 | 1.983 | ||
| 9 |
 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:51.573 | 2.161 | ||
| 10 |
 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 1:51.983 | 2.571 | ||
| 11 |
| George Russell | Mercedes | 1:54.012 | |||
| 12 |
 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:54.211 | |||
| 13 |
 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 1:54.370 | |||
| 14 |
| Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 1:54.380 | |||
| 15 |
 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | 1:55.518 | |||
| 16 |
 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | 1:56.083 | |||
| 17 |
 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 1:56.226 | |||
| 18 |
| Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:56.337 | |||
| 19 |
 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1:56.985 | |||
| 20 |
| Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1:57.532 |
I think the real mistake was mad on Verstappen’s previous lap, when he was also clearly well up on the leading time, almost by as much as on his final run, but the lap was abandoned just three or four corners from the end, as he came onto the drier section. Whose call it was to abort that lap, Verstappen’s or the team’s, we weren’t told, but it would have been the fastest lap at the time. Whether it would have ended up as pole lap is speculation, but it certainly would have been sufficient to start on the front two rows, placing him in amongst the eventual battle for the win. Given the fuel situation it really should have been impressed upon Verstappen during that lap that he should complete it at full speed. Having said that, we got a great battle between the front two, so maybe it was for the best that Verstappen ended up further back.