George Russell grabbed a sensational Singapore Grand Prix pole position from under the noses of Red Bull’s Max Vesrappen and pre-weekend McLaren favourites Oscar Paistro and Lando Nortris with both his Q3 two laps being good enough to claim top spot in qualifying. Verstappen backed out of his final flyer and settled for P2 ahead of Piastri. 

At the start of Q1 Verstappen took P1 with an opening flyer of 1:30.317 but as the track rapidly improved the Dutchman’s time was increasingly threatened. With a little under seven minutes remaining, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar jumped to P1 with a lap of 1:30.214 and a minute later Norris became the first man below the 1m30s mark and he took P1 with a lap of 1:29.932. 

In the final runs Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was the first to lay down a marker with a lap of 1:29.765. Verstappen was next across the line and his 1:30.028 initially took him to P3, behind Norris. That became P4 as Russell edged 0.004s ahead of Norris to take P2. 

There was confusion at the end of the session, however, when Alpine’s Pierre Gasly ground to a halt at Turn 11. A number of drivers completed laps while yellow flags were on display and the stewards reported that investigations into several, including Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto and Russell, would be conducted after the session. As it stood there was no place in Q2 for Bortoleto who dropped out in P16 ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, Haas’ Esteban Ocon and the unfortunate Gasly. 

Verstappen was first out on track at the start of Q2 and as such the Dutchman set the first benchmark, at 1:29.747 and as other times came in the Red Bull driver hung on to top spot a little under eight hundredths of a second ahead of Piastri. Hamilton sat in P3 ahead of Norris and Racing Bulls man Isack Hadjar. 

At the start of the final Q2 runs, Antonelli jumped from P15 to P1 with a lap of 1:29.649. Russell beat his team-mate to claim P1 on a time of 1:29.562 and Verstappen crossed the line one hundredth off that to split the Mercedes pair, with Norris fourth ahead of team-mate Piastri. 

Further back, there was no way out of the drop zone for P11 man Hülkenberg, the Williams duo of Sainz and Albon in 12th and 13th respectively, Lawson in P14 and Tsunoda who exited in P15.

At the start of Q3, Russell was the first of the pole contenders across the line and the Mercedes driver, who brushed the barriers in the final corners, laid down a strong marker with a lap of 1:29.165. 

Antonelli slotted into second ahead of Hamilton and when Norris couldn’t go quicker than the Italian and Piastri could only make it to P2, it was left to the last driver out on track, Verstappen, to take the fight to Mercedes. The Dutchman’s time was boosted by a purple final sector, but despite the pace he could only take P2 a little under two tenths off provisional pole. 

In the final runs Russell managed to shave 0.007s off his first run time but neither Norris nor Piastri could match that, and Antonelli also failed to haul his way forward. It was only Verstappen who stood a chance of beating Russell but as he went into the final chicane, Max saw Norris, on his slow in-lap, just ahead and as the Dutchman went towards the final corner he backed out, handing pole to Russell. 

"The lap was coming nicely, but around here to nail all the corners is very tough,” said Verstappen. “Unfortunately, I had a car two seconds in front of me in the final chicane. In qualifying, you cannot have that. You cannot have any kind of disturbance when you want to push in Q3, and that's what happened. I had to abort the lap. So that was a bit unfortunate. Otherwise, I think it would have been a very close battle for first, but it is what it is."

Behind the top two, Piastri took third ahead of Antonelli, while Norris qualified fifth. Hamilton was left with sixth ahead of team-mate Leclerc and Hadjar, with Bearman in P9 ahead of Hamilton

2025 FIA Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:29.158 - -
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:29.340 0.182 
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:29.524 0.366 
4 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:29.537 0.379 
5 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:29.586 0.428 
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:29.688 0.530 
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:29.784 0.626 
8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:29.846 0.688 
9 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:29.868 0.710 
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:29.955 0.797 
11 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:30.141 0.983 
12 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:30.202 1.044 
13 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:30.235 1.077 
14 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:30.320 1.162 
15 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:30.353 1.195 
16 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:30.820 1.662 
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:30.949 1.791 
18 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:30.982 1.824 
19 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:30.989 1.831
20 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:31.261 2.103