Singapore Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying is set to decide the starting grid for Saturday’s 100-kilometre Sprint, with Ferrari entering the session among the teams expected to challenge near the front after a closely fought lone practice hour at Marina Bay.
The first qualifying session of the weekend begins at 14:30 Italian time, with darkness already covering the Marina Bay Street Circuit and the floodlights fully illuminating the Singapore venue. It marks the final Sprint weekend of the season, with this session determining the grid for Saturday’s shorter race, scheduled to begin at 11:00.
Singapore GP Sprint Qualifying begins under the lights
The session starts with significant uncertainty after the only free practice run of the weekend produced a closely matched order. With the Singapore Sprint schedule leaving teams very little preparation time, Sprint Qualifying will provide the first true indication of how the competitive order stands around Marina Bay.
George Russell was fastest in practice, with Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris close behind on the same soft tyre compound. Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri completed the top five, underlining just how tight the leading group appeared before the first competitive session of the weekend.
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton enter the mini-pole fight
Ferrari arrives in Sprint Qualifying with Charles Leclerc having finished close to George Russell in FP1, while Lewis Hamilton also remained inside the top five. The Maranello team therefore enters the session with a realistic opportunity to fight near the front, although the limited running means the true performance picture is still difficult to assess.
The comparison between the two Ferrari drivers and their rivals must also take tyre choices into account. Andrea Kimi Antonelli completed his practice running on the medium compound rather than the soft, leaving the Mercedes driver seventh in the classification and making his outright pace harder to compare directly.
The Italian driver was positioned between Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar in the final FP1 order, with the two Red Bull drivers also part of a tightly compressed group. That means several teams could still emerge as serious contenders once Sprint Qualifying begins and the run programmes become more representative.
FP1 order leaves Singapore Sprint grid battle wide open
George Russell’s practice benchmark provides the reference heading into the session, but Charles Leclerc’s proximity on the same tyres suggests Ferrari should remain firmly involved in the fight. Lando Norris was similarly close, while Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri ensured that multiple teams were represented inside the top five.
The lack of additional practice means teams now have to commit to their chosen set-ups without another opportunity to test major changes. The challenge is especially important at Marina Bay, where confidence, tyre preparation and track position can all become decisive factors over a qualifying lap. The circuit’s demands and the need to balance traction and speed are also central to Ferrari’s Singapore performance challenge.
With the leading drivers separated by relatively small margins in practice, Sprint Qualifying begins without a clear favourite. George Russell may have led the opening session, but Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton and the rest of the leading group will now attempt to turn their limited practice preparation into the best possible starting position for Saturday’s Sprint.
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