DRAMATIC QUALIFYING, CHARLES LECLERC ON POLE

Charles Leclerc took pole position in a wet-dry qualifying session for the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix, as championship leader Max Verstappen finished eighth after being told to abandon his final lap.

Heavy rain earlier in the afternoon and evening meant that Q1 began with the track still damp in many areas, making intermediate tyres the choice for all drivers. After being forced to back out of his first flying lap due to yellow flags Verstappen’s second lap vaulted him to top spot.

That was beaten by Leclerc, while Sergio Pérez in the second Red Bull improved to P3. After dropping down the order as track improvements handed rivals an advantage Verstappen jumped back to P1 late in the session with a final lap, a tenth clear of Lewis Hamilton and a second ahead of third-placed Leclerc.

There was no place in Q2 though for Valtteri Bottas and the Alfa Romeo driver was eliminated in P15 ahead of Daniel Riccardo, Esteban Ocon, who complained of brake issues, and the Williams pairing of Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi.

At the start of Q2 Leclerc topped the timesheet with an opening flying lap of 1:52.343, while Verstappen slotted into second place, 0.380s behind the Ferrari man.

Hamilton then edged ahead of Verstappen by three hundredths of a second, while Pérez eased through in P4 ahead of Fernando Alonso.

Carlos Sainz Jr. claimed his Q3 berth with sixth place in the second Ferrari, while Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda progressed in seventh and eight places respectively.

Lando Norris went through in P9 and the final place in the top-10 shootout went to Kevin Magnussen.

The major casualty of Q2 was George Russell, the Mercedes AMG driver being eliminated in P11, just six hundredths of a second behind Magnussen.

Also ruled out at the end of the middle segment were Lance Stroll in 12th followed by Mick Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Zhou Guanyu.

At the start of Q3 the conditions had improved enough to make slick soft tyres the right choice and Hamilton led the way. However, with the track improving in leaps and bounds Hamilton, Leclerc and Fernando Alonso all took turns at the top, while Verstappen set the pace in the first sector before consistently losing time in the still damp sections of the final sector.

It was Leclerc who held his nerve best in the closing moments and the Ferrari driver claimed pole in the final minute. Pérez slotted into second and though Hamilton threatened to challenge Leclerc after a purple first sector the Mercedes AMG driver lost time elsewhere and took third place.

Carlos Sainz Jr. took fourth ahead of Alonso, Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly and then came Verstappen. The championship leader also looked like he was on course to beat Leclerc’s time after he delivered a purple first sector but a big slide in Turn 18 at the end of the lap forced him to back out.

He made it across the line in time for a final flyer but in the third sector his team told him to abandon the lap and pit as he was in danger of running out of fuel. Had he not been able to provide a fuel sample for testing he would be dropped to the back of the grid. In the end he was forced to settle for P8. Kevin Magnussen qualified ninth and Tsunoda finished in 10th place.