Singapore GP Qualifying: Norris and Verstappen to share front row
F1 NewsSaturday, 21 September 2024 at 20:30
Lando Norris took pole for the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, but will have to share the front row with the driver he is chasing for the Formula 1 Championship, Max Verstappen.
It was no surprise for Norris to take pole as he has been on it since his car turned a wheel around the Marina Bay Circuit, but Verstappen drove the wheels off his RB20 to line up second after a tough start of the weekend in Friday, with Red Bull improving on Saturday for the final practice, the reigning F1 Champion make the best use of that.
With the situation in the Championship, the start of the Grand Prix on Sunday will be something to watch as Verstappen will definitely have a go at Norris who is known to struggle with his starts.
Another driver who turned his weekend around was Lewis Hamilton who was third fastest and had a terrible time in Singapore up to qualifying. He will share the second row with his teammate George Russell.
A McLaren, a Red Bull, and two Mercedes on the first and second row respectively will indeed add some spice to the race.
Oscar Piastri has struggled all weekend to match Norris and indeed he was only good for fifth after his final Q3 lap was not ideal, and was chased by Nico Hulkenberg in sixth.
Fernando Alonso made it into Q3 for the second race in a row and was seventh ahead of Yuki Tsunoda who was eighth.
Daniel Ricciardo, on a weekend were there is a lot of speculation about his future with reports that he will replaced over the break between Singapore Austin, was out of Q1 and 16th fastest.
On to Ferrari, who managed to turn a great start to their weekend in Singapore into a disappointing result. The team dropped back already in FP3 and then their drivers, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished the job the first messing up his final lap the second binning the car at the start of Q3 and even before setting a lap time.
Leclerc's lap time in Q3 was deleted due to track limits breach and will start the race from ninth while Sainz will race from tenth.
Not the result Ferrari were expecting after the highs of Monza and Baku not to mention their early decent form in Singapore.
Norris: It was tough
After taking his sixth F1 career pole Norris commented: "It was tough, especially through qualifying. I was finding it a little difficult to progress much and gain a lot of lap time. And all of the guys around seemed to get quicker and quicker, so it put me under a bit more pressure, especially with just one lap at the end.
"It was good enough for pole and I’m happy with that, especially here in Singapore. A good feeling. I’ve felt good all weekend, I’ve felt confident, maybe not so much in qualy but we got the job done," he added.
"I like it," was Norris' response when asked about the pressure of having to deliver one perfect lap in Q3 following Sainz's crash.
"It gets your heart rate going and it’s good fun. My lap wasn’t as good as my lap previous to the red flag, so there’s always just that little bit more in it.
"But the car’s been feeling good and when you have a good feeling car and you’re confident, you can go out and push and get the lap time, so I did the job I had to do today and excited to see what we can do tomorrow," he concluded.
Verstappen: I'll take second
"The whole of qualifying went quite well," a content Verstappen said in parc ferme after qualifying. "We managed to improve the car run after run. I'm happy to be on the front row if you look at where we came from yesterday."
Reflecting on losing his first lap in Q3 having set it under double Yellow flags due to Sainz's crash, the Red Bull ace said: "Q3 was tough.
"Your lap gets of course cancelled with the double-waved yellow then everyone only has one run to do the lap, so you don't want to overdo it. You want to stay within the limit.
"I'll take second - I'm happy with that," he insisted. "Tomorrow is a bit difficult to say, in Singapore a lot of things can happen, but at least we have a shot at it like this."
Another happy bunny in qualifying was Hamilton, who said: "Qualifying has been a disaster for me all year long and I've been working, working and working trying to get myself back up there. All of a sudden the car came alive for the first time in qualifying in a long time.
"[The red flag was] a bit of a shame, as we were getting into a rhythm, but it was the same for all of us, and in that lap at the end was a little bit tricky. I think there was a tiny bit more left in the car but I'm really grateful for it.
"We've been moving up and down on balance, we've changed everything on each day, and the mechanics have just been faultless so I want to say a big thank you to them.
"I hope we're in a good position to fight for the front tomorrow," the Briton concluded.
Q1: Ricciardo first of the losers
Under the glittering flood lights of the Marina Bay Circuit, qualifying for the Singapore GP started in dry conditions with track temperature at 32 degrees Celsius while air temperature was 29 degrees.
However the drivers had to deal with a punishing humidity which was at 79%.
The cars lined up in the pitlane with Esteban Ocon first in the queue with Zhou Guanyu, Pierre Gasly and Valtteri Bottas lining up behind him. Soon more cars followed.
Out of the big guys, only Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton remained in their pits, while Norris, Piastri, Sainz, Sergio Perez, and Leclerc did not waste any time, the latter the first to start a timed lap.
Leclerc went fastest and then Perez went second behind him, but Norris soon finished his first lap and went to the top while Piastri just behind him on track went third fastest.
Sainz had to abort his first lap after an error and then went on to fourth place with Alex Albon fifth fastest and Colapinto in seventh.
With ten minutes remaining, Verstappen made his way out on track, as Hamilton went fifth fastest with Russell slotting in seventh.
Hamilton reported the rear of his Mercedes was sliding a lot as Verstappen took second place behind Norris, 0.130s slower. Replay showed Verstappen losing the rear of his RB20 at Turn 9.
Leclerc and Sainz then went on a second hot lap each, the former going second the latter remaining in sixth.
The order with less than eight minutes remaining: Norris - Leclerc - Piastri - Hulkenberg - Sainz -Alonso - Esteban Ocon - Kevin Magnussen - Tsunoda - Hamilton - Albon - Russell - Perez - Ricciardo.
With less then six minutes remaining, the second round of laps commenced with both McLarens and Williams heading out for an early start. Mercedes followed.
The track was evolving massively, Hamilton reporting on the radio that the track was ramping up and indeed the times dropped dramatically.
Replay showed Albon touching the wall coming out of Turn 13, already over the limit while Russell was complaining about grip telling his team it was nothing like it was in FP3 which he finished second fastest.
In the end of Q1, Norris led the way with a 1:30.002 and 0.155s faster than Verstappen in second with Piastri third fastest, 0.256s slower than his teammate.
First to drop out of qualifying, and despite early promising form from VCARB, was Ricciardo who missed out on Q2 by 0.127s and will start the race from 16th on the grid.
Lance Stroll followed in the Aston Martin, 17th fastest and 0.009s behind Ricciardo but 0.218s ahead of Gasly in 18th.
Sauber duo Bottas and Zhou were 19th and 20th respectively.
Q2: Perez doesn't make the top ten!
The remaining 15 cars started Q2 with Perez and Verstappen the first two drivers to start their flying laps respectively.
McLaren were the only team to qualify into Q2 while using one set of Soft tyres, all the others using two sets.
Perez went fastest but then Verstappen took over after that, but his lap was deleted after exceeding track limits at the final corner, miraculously holding his RB20.
Verstappen returned to the garage and opted to go for one final lap to try and make it into Q3.
Norris went fastest with Leclerc second fastest and Piastri in third. Norris also had a moment at Turn 14 but managed to hold it.
Hulkenberg was fourth fastest with Tsunoda, Sainz, Perez, Magnussen, and Alonso completing the top ten, but then Hamilton and Russell disrupt the order going first and third respectively.
With six and a half minutes remaining, Verstappen made his way out on track to put in his first timed lap in Q2. He had the track all for himself and set a time good enough for the top spot and 0.249s clear of Hamilton who was fastest at that point.
With almost three minute remaining, the rest of the car came out for their final runs to book a place in Q3, and with Q2 done, Piastri was the fastest with a lap time of 1:29.640, 0.040s faster than Verstappen in second while Leclerc was third fastest.
The first to drop out of Q2 was Albon who missed out by 0.024s to Alonso and was 11th fastest after being vocal about not being happy with his tyres since qualifying started.
Colapinto was 12th fastest in the second Williams, 0.007s behind his teammate and 0.098s ahead of Perez who was only 13th having failed to improve on his final run.
Magnussen was 14th ahead of Ocon in 15th.
Q3: Sainz crashes!
The cars lined up in the pitlane for the final shootout of qualifying with the polesitter being anyone's guess with Piastri the first to start a flying lap with Verstappen behind him and Norris following.
Piastri went fastest but didn't have the best of laps but then Verstappen went fastest and while Norris was on a good one, Sainz crashed his Ferrari at the final corner and ended up in the wall.
Sainz radioed: "I don't know if it was cold tyres, dirty air or I was... big snap."
Verstappen then has his lap time deleted and as such Piastri had the top time with Hulkenberg the only other driver with a time posted.
"Why did my lap time get deleted? I crossed before it was red," Verstappen asked his team who told him they are looking into it. The rules say a lap time set under double Yellows will be deleted.
However the Dutchman slowed down under the double Yellows that were thrown following the crash, which means he should avoid a penalty.
The Red flag came out with eight minutes remaining on the clock.
With the stricken Ferrari cleared and the barrier repaired, the Q3 was restarted but none of the drivers left the pits and waited as the time ticked all planning one final flying lap.
With four minutes remaining, the driver made their way out on track Piastri and Norris leading the way while the Mercedes cars and Leclerc followed.
Red Bull took the risk with Verstappen, keeping him longer in the pits waiting for the track to be at it best grip levels. A Yellow flag will mess up his chances, but no risk, no gain.
With two minutes remaining, Verstappen joined the action as Piastri started his final lap. The Dutchman was instructed to pass cars to ensure a decent track position.
Piastri improved slightly but Norris went fastest as Leclerc was behind and was fourth while Hamilton went second fastest.
Verstappen was behind Hamilton and dropped the seven-time F1 Champion to third while Russell was fourth behind his teammate.
Leclerc had his time deleted for breaching the track limits at Turn 2.
In the end, Norris took pole with a lap time of 1:29.525, 0.203s faster than Verstappen who was happy to take second while Hamilton was third fastest in the Mercedes, 0316s off the pace.
Russell will line up fourth on the grid for Sunday's Grand Prix, 0.026s behind his teammate and 0.086s ahead of Piastri who was fifth in the McLaren.
Hulkenberg was a superb sixth in the Haas, almost sixth tenths down from pole and one tenth ahead of Alonso who was also a decent seventh in the Aston Martin.
Tsunoda did a superb job to take eighth fastest while Leclerc and Sainz were classified ninth and tenth respectively.
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