"A win in Singapore would be fantastic, it's our goal"

Qualifying Recap

After three free practice sessions for the Singapore Grand Prix completely dominated by the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz, Maranello’s results made them the strong favorites for pole position on the Marina Bay circuit, and that’s exactly what happened. Carlos Sainz, with the best time of 1:30.984, will start from the front of the grid in tomorrow’s race. Qualifying was highly competitive right from Q1, with very tight gaps, and the track kept improving as the minutes passed. Due to this, in a rather rare situation, all drivers completed their last fast laps in the final moments of the session to avoid potential elimination from Q2. However, due to a violent collision with the barriers by Lance Stroll at the final corner, the marshals immediately displayed the red flag just before the conclusion of some drivers’ laps. Besides the Canadian of Aston Martin (who fortunately emerged unscathed from the car), Oscar Piastri was the one most affected, eliminated from Q2 along with the two Alfa Romeos and Sargeant’s Williams. After a long wait to clear debris from the track and restore the safety barriers, the qualifying session resumed with an astonishing Q2 result: the two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez found themselves outside the top 10, failing to reach Q3 and the battle for pole position for the first time in five years. While the Mexican reached the 13th position, partly due to a spin on his final lap, the reigning two-time world champion missed out by just 7 thousandths of a second to Liam Lawson, in his third qualifying in his career. Furthermore, keep an eye on what might happen in the coming hours to #1, as he was stationary in the pit lane for a long time in the final moments of Q1 and is under investigation for impeding. In addition to that, Verstappen might face another penalty for impeding, this time for a maneuver against Tsunoda during Q2. This assistance is of immeasurable value to the rivals of the Milton Keynes team and especially to Ferrari, with Sainz claiming his second consecutive pole position ahead of an excellent Russell and Leclerc, trailing by 72 and 79 thousandths of a second, respectively.

1st, Carlos Sainz – Ferrari

“Like at Monza, I got off to a strong start right from FP1, and I had a lot of confidence throughout all the sessions, which brought me to Q3. I focused on not making a single mistake in the crucial lap, and having a clean lap here in Singapore pays off. It was a bit chaotic for everyone during this session, but we kept our concentration high, which led us to the pole. It’s been the story of the entire year: we have a great car on some tracks and in certain conditions, especially in dry conditions. Our car performs really well in these corners with a short racing line and rapid direction changes, and this weekend, I did well just like in Monza. We know that our weakness is race pace, but the team has done a great job in recent weeks understanding the package and the car, so we’re making progress. However, we have to remember that this circuit has always been challenging for Ferrari. Race pace is our question mark; Mercedes is usually faster than us in the race, and they will have a different tire strategy. We’ll have to keep an eye on them, but I want to stay focused on my race and try to have a good first stint on the hard tires, and I believe that the goal could be victory. It would be fantastic to win, and I’ll give it my all, just like in Monza, and hopefully, it will be enough tomorrow.”

3rd, Charles Leclerc – Ferrari

“It’s very difficult to put in a fast lap, like anywhere else, but here, even more so due to tire temperatures and overheating during the lap. There has always been a balance between the first and last sectors. We were all very close, and even Mercedes was very fast, so it was a very interesting qualifying. Unfortunately, I missed something to gain a couple of positions, but today Carlos did a great job again. First and third positions for the team, we’ll see what we can do tomorrow. There will be a physically demanding challenge due to the heat and humidity, but so far, we’ve done very well. We didn’t expect to be this competitive on this track, and it’s a good sign for the future. It seems that we’ve been quite strong this weekend, so let’s hope it can happen tomorrow too.”