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Lando Norris secured pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix after Carlos Sainz triggered a red flag during Q3 with just a tad over eight minutes to go.
It became a one-lap shootout under the lights at Marina Bay Street Circuit, Piastri on provisional pole while Norris sat sixth before the final runs after putting together a shocking lap during third practice earlier on Saturday. The McLaren
A commanding performance on the trickiest of tracks 💪@LandoNorris soars to a sixth career pole 🤩#F1 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/HRwDKgDFVU
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 21, 2024
“All the guys around seemed to get quicker and quicker and put me under a little bit more pressure, especially with just one lap at the end,” Norris said. “But it was good enough for pole, and I’m happy with that.”
Max Verstappen saw his lap time deleted because of the double yellow flags at Turn 18, where Sainz crashed into the barriers, and that’s an automatic lap deletion in qualifying. But the Dutchman insisted that he lifted. That lap deletion, though, didn’t matter with his final flying lap landing him a front-row start.
The result sets up a pivotal race start on Sunday, with the top two contenders for F1’s driver championship starting side-by-side on the front row. Verstappen leads Norris by 59 points — a race win combined with poor results for either driver in either direction could really tighten that title fight. Norris has never won from pole. Verstappen had improved from practice when he didn’t seem to the handling capable of threatening for pole. He said the team had made “a lot” of changes to the car overnight.
The Mercedes duo will make up the second row, with Lewis Hamilton qualifying third and George Russell fourth. Hamilton looked visibly relieved to start on the second row after a season full of tough qualifying performances for the veteran driver.
“All of a sudden the car came alive in qualifying for the first time in a long time,” Hamilton said. Both Mercedes were in the hunt for the win here last season.
Nico Hülkenberg will line up sixth, alongside Piastri, who qualified fifth. Charles Leclerc saw his final lap time deleted for track limits at Turn 2, landing him down in ninth. He said after qualifying that it would take “a miracle” for him to finish on the podium tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Sergio Pérez was knocked out in Q2, marking this weekend the first time since Hungary that the Red Bull driver hasn’t advanced to Q3. Daniel Ricciardo, who faces questions about his F1 future, was knocked out in Q1, while RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda qualified eighth, lining up alongside Fernando Alonso. In his first race back since the one-race ban he served last weekend, Kevin Magnussen qualified P14.
QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION
Norris delivers when it matters 💪#F1 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/i6rGP8j1FA
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 21, 2024
Top photo: ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
