Russell Claims Pole for 2025 Singapore GP

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Mercedes’ George Russell claimed pole position for 2025 Singapore Grand Prix. 

Russell topped Q2 before he dominated Q3 to take his seventh pole position in F1 and first on the streets of Singapore, having beaten FP3’s quickest driver – Max Verstappen who will start second ahead of championship leader – Oscar Piastri in third.

 

FP3

Haas’ Oliver Bearman was first out on track and set 1m 33.986 as the benchmark time on mediums, which several drivers quickly usurped as Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson and Lando Norris went quickest on medium tyres before Carlos Sainz on the soft tyre posted 1m 31.960 to go top in the 11th minute.

Norris responded two minutes later with 1m 31.021 before the red flags came out on the 15th minute mark after Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson lost control on the kerb through Turn 7 and spun into the barriers.

The action resumed ten minutes later but nobody displaced Norris at the halfway mark of the session, until Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli went fastest with 25 minutes left on the soft tyre as he posted 1m 30.760 ahead of the qualifying simulations.

Once the qualifying simulations commenced, Leclerc was the first to go even quicker albeit by 0.099 seconds before Norris set 1m 30.292 as the benchmark with 11 minutes left.

Max Verstappen however pulled out a 1m 30.148 just over a minute later to top FP3 as Piastri snuck into second at the checkered flag ahead of George Russell, Antonelli and Norris as the top five were split by just 0.089s.

Position Driver Team Time
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1m 30.148
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren + 0.017
3 George Russell Mercedes + 0.049
4 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes + 0.089
5 Lando Norris McLaren + 0.089
6 Carlos Sainz Williams + 0.244
7 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls + 0.341
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari + 0.411
9 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber + 0.489
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari + 0.503
11 Alex Albon Williams + 0.520
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber + 0.549
13 Esteban Ocon Haas + 0.636
14 Oliver Bearman Haas + 0.651
15 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin + 0.775
16 Franco Colapinto Alpine + 0.899
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin + 1.112
18 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull + 1.292
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine + 1.495
20 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls + 3.480

 

Qualifying

Q1

Colapinto was first out on track and set 1m 32.096 as the initial benchmark time but his time was quickly usurped by several drivers, as Verstappen topped the opening runs with 1m 30.317 ahead of Bearman by 0.102s.

The bottom five meanwhile comprised of; Hulkenberg, Tsunoda, Gasly, Piastri and Antonelli, although Piastri aborted his lap due to an incorrect yellow flag instead of blue flag for a slower car, whilst Antonelli was impeded at Turn 3 by Sainz.

Track evolution however suddenly ramped up as Hadjar posted 1m 30.214 to go quickest in the 12th minute, which was soon beaten by Norris then Hamilton who topped the segment from Russell and Norris with the British trio split by 0.167s.

Bortoleto meanwhile headed the Q1 eliminations as he missed out on Q2 by just 0.045s to Albon, whilst Stroll qualified 17th ahead of Colapinto and Ocon.

Gasly qualified slowest after he aborted his final lap with a hydraulic issue at Turn 11.

 

Q2

Following a seven-minute delay caused by Gasly’s stoppage,  Verstappen was first on track and set 1m 29.747 as the benchmark time which nobody managed to beat in the opening runs, although Piastri fell 0.076s shy in second on used soft tyres.

Once everyone set a lap time, Lawson, Tsunoda, Leclerc and Albon sat in the elimination zone alongside Antonelli, whose lap time had been deleted for a breach of track limits at Turn 2.

Antonelli and Russell however were amongst several drivers who saved new soft tyres for their second Q2 run and the former went top, only for Russell to post 1m 29.562 to set the pace up top and top the segment from Verstappen by just 0.010s.

As the checkered flag fell, Tsunoda qualified 15th and beaten by Lawson who managed 14th despite having suffered two crashes in practice.

Williams’ Albon and Sainz qualified 12th and 13th respectively behind Sauber’s Hulkenberg who will start 11th on the grid after he missed out on Q3 to Bearman by just 0.065s.

 

Q3

Bearman was first out on track and set a benchmark time of 1m 30.166 but Russell posted 1m 29.165 to displace his British compatriot by just over a second, as Antonelli slotted into second.

Once everyone set their first Q3 fliers, Russell headed Verstappen by 0.175s with Piastri in third ahead of; Antonelli, Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc, Hadjar, Bearman and Alonso.

Norris was first back out for the final runs but Russell couldn’t be toppled as he improved by 0.007s to take his first pole on the streets of Singapore with 1m 29.165, ahead of Verstappen as nobody improved their positions at the checkered flag.

Post-session, Albon and Sainz were disqualified due to failure to comply with rear-wing measurements which saw everyone from 14th down in the classification promoted two places up the grid.

Position Driver Team Time
1 George Russell Mercedes 1m 29.165
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull + 0.182
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren + 0.366
4 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes + 0.379
5 Lando Norris McLaren + 0.428
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari + 0.530
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari + 0.626
8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls + 0.688
9 Oliver Bearman Haas + 0.710
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin + 0.797
11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1m 30.141
DSQ Alex Albon Williams + 0.061
DSQ Carlos Sainz Williams + 0.094
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls + 0.170
13 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull + 0.212
14 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1m 30.820
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin + 0.129
16 Franco Colapinto Alpine + 0.162
17 Esteban Ocon Haas + 0.169
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine + 0.441

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