Carlos Sainz clinched pole position for the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, following a dramatic qualifying session which saw drama throughout.
Sainz emerged fastest in FP3 and continued his pace into Qualifying which threw up plenty of drama from multiple impeding incidents to a huge crash for Lance Stroll who walked away unharmed, and a shock Q2 exit for a top team.
Now, here is a full roundup of all the action across FP3 and Qualifying for 2023 Singapore Grand Prix.
FP3
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou were first out on track with Bottas setting the benchmark time of 1m 35.082 on soft tyres in the fourth minute, but he was displaced by Lance Stroll, Sainz then Verstappen three minutes later as he lowered the benchmark time to 1m 34.402.
Sainz responded with 1m 33.778 in the 12th minute to go quickest but Verstappen three minutes later hit back to go top by 0.178 seconds from the Spaniard as the pair ran medium tyres in their opening stints.
Mercedes meanwhile ran Lewis Hamilton and George Russell on the soft tyre in their opening runs, which allowd Russell to go fastest in the 20th minute with 1m 33.440, although he was quickly displaced by Sainz who went 0.245s quicker a minute later.
AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson meanwhile suffered a spin at Turn 2 in the 26th minute which didn’t affect Russell, who seconds later went fastest with 1m 32.883 to sit top at the half-way mark of FP3, ahead of Sainz and Verstappen who were displaced by Hamilton in the 31st minute.
Attention soon switched to the soft tyre Qualifying simulations as Russell found 0.519s to stay fastest in the 42nd minute, but McLaren’s Lando Norris produced an unexpected 1m 32.303 two minutes later to displace his British compatriot as Hamilton went third quickest.
Sainz eventually topped the session with a 1m 32.065 set ten minutes from the checkered flag as Russell made a further improvement, yet fell 0.069s shy in second ahead of Norris as Verstappen recovered from gear upshift issues to finish fourth ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1m 32.065 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.069 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.238 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.313 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.316 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.470 |
| 7 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.665 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.719 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.831 |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.880 |
| 11 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.905 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.914 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.986 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.061 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.286 |
| 16 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri | + 1.292 |
| 17 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.305 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.492 |
| 19 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.613 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.643 |
Qualifying
Q1
Sargeant was first out onto the circuit as the lead driver in a queue of cars and proceeded to set 1,m 35.098 as the benchmark time, which quickly was bettered by several drivers with Russell emerging fastest after the opening flying laps with 1m 32.478.
Once everyone completed their first flying laps, Lawson, Albon, Bottas, Zhou and Stroll found themselves in the elimination zone, although Stroll was impeded by Sargeant but improved to 16th on his second flier.
Up front, Sainz found time on his second flier after he had opted for a banker first lap and went quickest with 1m 32.339, ahead of Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell and Norris as the top five were split by 0.144s ahead of final Q1 runs.
Lawson meanwhile improved to 10th on his second flier which dropped Sargeant into the elimination zone in 17th position, in front of Albon, Bottas and Zhou but behind Stroll who again found time on his next flier to put himself on the cusp in 16th position.
As the checkered flag fell, track evolution ramped up but the action came to an abrupt end as Stroll lost control at Turn 19 and smashed heavily into the barriers, which saw a wheel fly across the track as his stricken Aston Martin slid backwards into the middle of the track.
The red flag was immediately shown with not everyone able to improve as Bottas qualified 16th ahead of Piastri, Sargeant, Zhou and Stroll, whilst Tsunoda finished quickest with 1m 31.991 as Hamilton and Albon scraped through in 14th and 15th position respectively.
Verstappen meanwhile was put under investigation after he was adjudged to have impeded some drivers by sitting too long at the pit exit during Q1, followed by confirmation that multiple drivers would be investigated for impeding between Turns 16 and 19 in the final minute.
Q2
After a 28 minute delay due to barrier repairs at the final corner, Perez and Verstappen were first out on track with the latter setting 1m 32.307 as the benchmark time which was swiftly displaced by several drivers.
Once everyone set their opening lap times except Tsunoda who aborted his flying lap, Perez headed those sat in the elimination zone ahead of; Hulkenberg, Lawson, Albon and Tsunoda, whilst Russell sat top from Alonso with 1m 31.743.
Verstappen meanwhile was placed under another post-Qualifying investigation after he impeded Tsunoda, which forced the AlphaTauri driver to abort his lap in frustration.
Once the checkered flag fell, Red Bull endured their most diastrous Qualifying performance in years as Perez spun out at Turn 3 to qualify 13th, whilst Verstappen missed out on Q3 by 0.007s to Lawson with Gasly splitting the pair in 12th position.
Albon qualified 14th ahead of Tsunoda who once again aborted his lap in a difficult session for the Japanese driver.
Sainz finished Q2 quickest with 1m 31.439 ahead of Russell and Alonso.
Q3
As the lights turned green for Q3, Mercedes were the only team to hold back their drivers as everyone else ventured out, as Russell and Hamilton waited almost a minute-and-a-half before they joined the action.
Magnussen set the benchmark time of 1m 32.396 but his time was quickly bettered by various drivers, as Sainz went quickest with 1m 31.170 ahead of Leclerc, Norris, Russell, Hamilton, Alonso, Magnussen, Hulkenberg, Ocon and Lawson at the end of the first flying laps.
Sainz eventually improved to 1m 30.984 as he took a second consecutive pole position ahead of Russell, Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton.
Magnussen, Alonso, Ocon, Hulkenberg and Lawson rounded out the top ten.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1m 30.984 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.072 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.079 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.286 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.501 |
| 6 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.591 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.631 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.689 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.824 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri | + 1.284 |
| 11 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 32.173 |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.101 |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.137 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.974 |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | No Time |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1m 32.809 |
| 17 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.093 |
| 18 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 0.443 |
| 19 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.449 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.588 |
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