Round 15/23: Review of the Singapore Grand Prix qualifying

Carlos Sainz took the pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix, his second straight pole position, ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell and his teammate Charles Leclerc. The surprise for the day was the Redbulls being knocked out in Q2 with Max Verstappen finishing in P11 and Sergio Perez in P13. This is the first time both Redbulls have been knocked out before making it into Q3 since the Russian Grand Prix in 2018.

Going into the Qualifying session, it was Sainz who appeared to have his nose ahead in taking another pole position as he topped two out of the three practice sessions. The obvious favorite, Verstappen, seemed to struggle throughout the weekend, with either issues pertaining to setup observed yesterday or the constant issues of upshifts/downshifts observed today. Lando Norris in the heavily upgraded McLaren was also another favorite with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Russell.

Q1

Leclerc set the pace early in Q1 with Norris and Sergio Perez staying within a few hundredths of a second of the Ferrari. Verstappen, however, evident from his struggles earlier was already 3-tenths down on his teammate after his first run. Mercedes throughout the session preferred going last onto the track to set times when the track would seemingly be at its best. With the track evolving, Russell soon set the fastest lap and Verstappen and Sainz soon broke through trading P1s.

It was clear that on a slow-cornered track, the Alfa Romeos and the Williams would struggle, and it was these cars along with Lance Stroll who were in the danger zone going into the final runs. In the final runs, the track evolution proved to be huge as Yuki Tsunoda, Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, and Kevin Magnussen took P1, P3, P4, and P5 respectively. The session, however, was cut short due to the crash of Stroll in the Aston Martin, finishing P20 in another disappointing run for the Candian.

Valtteri Bottas, Oscar Piastri, Logan Sargeant, and Zhou Guanyu were the others to miss out making it past Q1. Piastri who doesn’t have the upgrades yet on his McLared, ended up in P17 as he couldn’t finish his final run owing to the red flag. Logan Sargeant too appeared to be improving in his final run while Zhou Guanyu couldn’t find any improvements.

Q2

Verstappen was the first to set the pace in Q2 with a 1:32.307 followed by Perez but Kevin Magnussen upstaged both the Redbulls going P1. Fernando Alonso, Sainz, Russell, and Leclerc later breezed past the trio and with Mercedes setting up their laps it demoted Verstappen to P10 and Perez to P11. Further, Verstappen impeded Tsunoda on his flyer causing him to abort his lap.

Perez, Hulkenberg, Lawson, Albon, and Tsunoda were in the drop zones with a couple of minutes to go. Verstappen meanwhile was still in the danger zone in P10. He, however, couldn’t do much in his final flyer as he had a slower first sector by 3-tenths compared to his last run and any improvements he made in sectors 2 and 3 were just marginal. Perez had a spin on his flyer and this confirmed his exit in Q2 once again this season.

Pierre Gasly, Tsunoda, and Lawson were the threats for displacing the Redbull of Verstappen from P10 and it was Lawson in his third-ever F1 race sprung a surprise lap that out-qualified Verstappen by 7 thousandths of a second. The New Zealander has had limited opportunities to showcase his potential and once again he kept his cool delivering a mature performance when it mattered. He might not be taking part in Japan with Daniel Ricciardo expected to be back but he made a strong case for a seat next year with this performance.

Q3

With both the Redbulls out in Q2, it is perhaps the best chance for teams to spring not just the pole position but possibly take the victory at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Sunday as overtaking is generally difficult at the circuit. It was the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc that capitalized by setting the pace early in Q3 with Norris, Russell, and Hamilton rounding up the top 5.

Alonso and Aston Martin who were eagerly waiting for Singapore to possibly clinch the victory as it was expected to favor their car's characteristics had a disappointing Q3 as they couldn’t match the Ferraris and Mercedes. In the final runs, Sainz bettered his own time but was being matched sector after sector by both Leclerc and Russell. However, Leclerc made a mistake at one of the turns oversteering his car and losing possibly a tenth which ultimately cost him the pole. Russell finished 7 hundredths of a second behind Sainz while Leclerc finished in P3, another 7 thousandths of a second behind Russell.

References

1. Image Credits: www.formula1.com
2. Thumbnail Image Credits: www.formula1.com

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