2026 Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying Review

Linus O'Howell

2 hours ago

2 min read

After a wet Sprint, the slicks were back on all 22 cars ahead of Qualifying around the Marina Bay Street Circuit!

Q1

In Qualifying 1, Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, and Isack Hadjar were the six slowest drivers! Fernando Alonso will be disappointed to have been knocked out in Q1 by just 54 thousandths of a second, whilst Alex Albon was over 5 tenths slower than his Williams teammate! Lance Stroll was quite a bit off in the other Aston Martin, whilst Sergio Perez beat Valtteri Bottas by well over 8 tenths in the Cadillac head-to-head battle! Then, after issues earlier in the Sprint, Isack Hadjar suffered more mechanical gremlins, resulting in his 100% Q3 streak (when competing) at Red Bull coming to an end! Lewis Hamilton topped Q1 for Ferrari, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli slotting in in second!

Q2

In Qualifying 2, Nico Hulkenberg, Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Franco Colapinto all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! As always, Nico Hulkenberg found himself in P11, whilst Oliver Bearman out-qualified Haas teammate Esteban Ocon by over 4 tenths! Carlos Sainz will start P14 for Williams after a decent showing, ahead of the other Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto (who was nowhere), whilst a horrible final lap resulted in Franco Colapinto being slowest in Q2 (over a second slower than his teammate)! Hamilton was on top again in Q2, with Max Verstappen putting his Red Bull into P2!

Q3

In Qualifying 3, a 1:31.373 was enough for Max Verstappen to take his second Pole Position of the weekend! After being perfect so far this weekend, can Max complete the set with a victory in the Grand Prix tomorrow? Charles Leclerc came out of nowhere to put his Ferrari onto the front row, ahead of a rather disappointed Lewis Hamilton, whilst Andrea Kimi Antonelli will start 4th as he continues to move closer and closer to a record-breaking World Championship! It will be an all-McLaren third row, with Lando Norris ahead of Oscar Piastri, as George Russell will drop to the back after originally qualifying 6th! Pierre Gasly did brilliantly to get best-of-the-rest for Alpine, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad rounding out the Top 10!