What the teams said – Sprint Qualifying in Singapore

Red Bull

Neither Verstappen nor Hadjar ran the softs in FP1, leaving their true pace a little unknown going into Sprint Qualifying. Both drivers made it relatively comfortably into SQ3 but once there, Hadjar failed to set a time after running wide and losing his lap to track limits. Verstappen though nailed his final lap to grab pole by over a tenth, as he picked up where he left off in Sepang.

The Dutchman was called to the stewards to explain a moment in SQ1 where he seemed to overtake Hamilton under yellow flags, but they found no case to answer so Verstappen kept his pole position.

Max Verstappen, 1st, 1:31.156

“This was unexpected in Singapore, but I’m very happy to finish first today. We’ve been a lot stronger over the last few races, but this is a track that tends to highlight some of our weaknesses, and we had a few difficulties with the car early on. We managed to get the most out of it, and once we bolted on the Soft tyres the car really started to come alive. The extra grip gave us more confidence and stability in places where it had felt a bit uncertain before. Qualifying is the main goal tomorrow, along with making sure we get a good start. We’ll do our best and see what happens, but it’s been a positive way to start the weekend."

Isack Hadjar, 9th, No time set in SQ3

“We had a good start to the day with FP1, I felt comfortable straight away on the Hard compound and it was a positive session for us. Unfortunately, Sprint Qualifying wasn't so strong for me. I wasn't able to get a good lap in, and struggled with an issue on my last run. The Soft tyre felt like a big step compared to the Medium, I felt good on it but the car then became tricky to handle. We'll try and tweak the car a bit for tomorrow and make a step forward."

Hannah Schmitz, Head of Race Strategy

"It’s been a mixed day. SQ1 was quite disrupted, which meant we didn’t have a lot of data to work with heading into the next session. SQ2 went a bit more smoothly, and then in SQ3 it was great to secure Pole for the Team and Max. On the other side of the garage, we were managing an issue and Isack had his lap time deleted for track limits, which made it a more challenging day. The positive of a Sprint weekend is that there are still plenty of sessions ahead, giving us valuable opportunities to learn and prepare for Qualifying and the race, where the bigger points are on offer."

Mercedes

It was a mixed bag for Mercedes in Singapore, with some laps making them look the class of the field and others looking far more like they were struggling. Russell was back on the older spec package and it seemed to work well for him as he grabbed second on the grid for the Sprint. Antonelli remained running the latest Mercedes upgrades, although he did revert back to the old front wing after practice. But he could not find the same sort of pace as his team mate, winding up seventh – over half a second behind Russell.

Kimi Antonelli, 7th, 1:31.849

"It was a bit more of a tricky day for me today and it felt difficult to put a lap together unfortunately. From the first session onwards, I wasn't quite able to find the rhythm I was looking for and that made it hard to maximise the package when it mattered most. We still have more understanding to do in regard to our upgrade, and the focus will be on working through the data overnight to build a clearer picture of where we can improve.

"The positive is that we have plenty of information to look through and there are definitely areas where we can do a better job. The field is very close, so small changes can make a big difference. Hopefully we are able to find more performance and take a step forward tomorrow. I'll be giving it everything out on track and we'll see where that leaves us when it counts."

George Russell, 2nd, 1:31.276

"It's been a relatively good first day for me here in Singapore. We were competitive in FP1, topping the time sheets and my final lap in SQ3 felt good. We knew coming into the session that Max (Verstappen) was fast and unfortunately, we couldn't quite get ahead of him with that last effort. We can still be pleased with our efforts though. We got the car in a good place balance wise and that made it easier to extract the performance.

"We will now see what tomorrow brings in the Sprint. We saw that there's a big difference in grip from the left to the right side of the track here last year, with those lining up on the pole position side having an advantage. The task off the line tomorrow will likely be to maintain P2 and then see what we can do to challenge for victory from there."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"After a difficult weekend in Malaysia, we decided to run our cars in split specification this weekend here in Singapore. It is not the easiest track to do that at, or have the Sprint format, as it often takes a bit of time to get the car set-up dialled in. We've seen that today as whilst we're pleased to see George on the front row, it has left us with a bit of head scratching to do to understand why the update is not bringing the performance step we expect.

"Neither car had a great balance although Kimi was lacking more confidence on the braking and entry phase and that's what you need to attack a qualifying lap here. We'll keep working to understand why that's the case. We've got plenty of data around us to try and make some progress and hopefully we'll be able to get Kimi's car in a better place for main qualifying tomorrow."

Ferrari

Ferrari were in the mix from the word go, with both drivers looking quick at times. Hamilton has previous here with four poles at this track, but in the end it was Leclerc who proved the faster of the duo. He managed to grab a slot on the second row and crucially will start on the grippy side of the grid, while Hamilton was sixth after sliding his way around the track in the final sector.

Lewis Hamilton, 6th, 1:31.702

"In SQ3 we tried a different run plan, which in hindsight wasn’t the right call. The car felt good on the Mediums, but I struggled with rear grip on the Softs, especially on my final lap. We need to understand whether that came down to tyre preparation, balance or overheating. The pace was there earlier in the day and although it didn’t come together today, we’ll focus on what we’ve learnt and how to extract more tomorrow."

Charles Leclerc, 3rd, 1:31.399

"On my best lap, I got everything out of the car that we had today. There’s potential to improve for tomorrow with some fine tuning, so we can be there in the fight for pole. On a track like this, P3 is a good position to start the Sprint from, as overtaking will be difficult for all, so we will see what we can bring home."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

"As we expected, Sprint Qualifying was pretty closely fought. Our cars were better on the Medium tyres than with the Softs and we will work on improving our performance on this compound for tomorrow’s qualifying. Charles was competitive right to the end, while Lewis didn’t manage to put together an optimal lap in SQ3. We can expect a busy day tomorrow, with the Sprint race providing information that will be useful for Sunday and, after that, we will shift our focus to qualifying which takes place after the sun has set."

McLaren

Norris has been struggling with a car issue, which McLaren believe is now fixed. It does seem to be better for the World Champion, who like his team mate was in the mix for the front rows. Once again, McLaren seem a fraction off the pace when it matters, with Piastri just 0.055s behind Leclerc. Norris was fifth, so the team could be on for double points tomorrow, but need to do some work to see if they can find anything extra ahead of Qualifying.

Lando Norris, 5th, 1:31.587

“P5 today, but not my best lap. Overall, the car is feeling good, and as a team, we are happy that things are working exactly as they should. However, the field is incredibly close, and you have to put in a perfect lap, which I unfortunately didn't manage to do. We'll review the data this evening, see what we can do from P5 on the grid tomorrow and then look to improve in tomorrow's Grand Prix Qualifying session.”

Oscar Piastri, 4th, 1:31.454

“P4. Overall, happy with that. I think we got close to the maximum of what we could have achieved today. It’s always difficult on a Sprint weekend to get everything right, but I was much happier than in the past few weeks with our performance. We were struggling quite a bit on the Mediums, but the car really came alive once we switched to the Softs. The added grip gave me the confidence to push, and it felt like a different car. That said, while the Soft was a big step in the right direction, it helped mask some issues so there's still work to do to find a more comfortable balance for the rest of the weekend. We’ll see what we can do in the Sprint tomorrow ahead of Grand Prix Qualifying.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“It was an interesting Qualifying session, full of drama, which confirmed just how closely matched the frontrunners are. It’s no coincidence that there are four different cars in the top four positions.

“For our part, we’re reasonably satisfied with the result and the level of performance shown, as they’re a sign that, at least on this track, we’re back in a situation similar to that seen before Baku, when the differences in grid positions were relatively small. All things considered, it’s a good starting point for the rest of the weekend and we hope to be in contention for podiums.

“Certainly, some of our rivals have made progress in recent Grands Prix, in terms of performance, and today we saw further confirmation of that. We must continue to work on the car to optimise its potential as much as possible.

“As for how Sprint Qualifying went, there were some tricky moments in SQ1 because, in the final minutes, only a few cars, including ours, had set a meaningful time, but we managed to progress to the next round fairly comfortably. In SQ3, we decided to set two flying laps to allow the drivers to make the most of the switch from Medium to Soft tyres, particularly given that even the softer compounds are showing relatively limited degradation this year.

“Our attention now turns to the Sprint tomorrow evening, where we will continue to learn more about our car in these conditions, before preparing for Grand Prix Qualifying tomorrow night.”

Racing Bulls

A very mixed session at Racing Bulls, with Lindblad out in SQ1 and Lawson making SQ3. The rookie struggled to find his rhythm at a new track after just the one practice session, and his case was not helped by disruption in SQ1 that limited his running. But Lawson put in a strong performance to start in the top eight, meaning if he can get off the line well, he could well fight for points and further extend his team’s advantage over Alpine in the standings.

Arvid Lindblad, 17th, 1:35.136

”It wasn’t the best Sprint Qualifying session. It’s a tough situation coming in as a rookie with only one Free Practice session at a street circuit, especially with the very different conditions under the lights compared to this afternoon. I wanted to complete a few laps in SQ1 to build up confidence, but the yellow flag meant we weren’t able to do that. I had a bit of a moment at Turn 13 and lost some time, which ultimately cost us a place in SQ2. All focus is now on to Qualifying tomorrow, where we’ll look to extract the maximum from the car and put ourselves in the best possible position for Sunday."

Liam Lawson, 8th, 1:32.341

"I feel pretty happy with today's Sprint Qualifying, particularly given we weren't strong during FP1. We made some changes in between sessions and they clearly paid off. It feels as though we're in a good place ahead of tomorrow and will of course push to stay within the points."

Dan Fallows, Technical Director

"We knew that the inaugural Sprint weekend in Singapore would present a challenge, particularly for Arvid, who has had just one practice session to get to grips with the circuit. Following a strong result for the team in Malaysia, we still had several setup items to try in FP1 as we looked to improve our competitiveness relative to Audi and Alpine. The heat and humidity also present challenges for brakes and cooling systems here, so we took the opportunity to make some tweaks to the car, which cost us some track time.

“Heading into Sprint Qualifying, we were conscious of the potential for disruption at a street circuit. Despite showing good pace, Arvid was unfortunate not to make it into SQ1. Liam made solid progress throughout the sessions however, building confidence in the car and delivering a fantastic lap to secure P8 on the grid for tomorrow’s Sprint.

“Some circuits this season have offered more overtaking opportunities than we initially expected, so we’ll be looking to see what opportunities present themselves tomorrow. The car has shown good pace here, and we’re hopeful of converting that into further Championship points across both the Sprint and Sunday’s race.”

Alpine

Alpine had a solid opening day in Singapore, looking right in the mix from the off. Gasly did make SQ3, his team mate just missing out thanks to a late improvement from Russell. In the final segment, Gasly’s lap time was deleted for track limits, leaving him P10, just ahead of Colapinto. Points might be tricky, but never say never, and the team should have enough data to try and move forward come Qualifying.

Pierre Gasly, 10th, No time set in SQ3

"The car has generally performed well today and we have looked competitive throughout the day. It was good to reach the top ten and be in SQ3. The pace and feel on the Mediums was good but, unfortunately, our run on the Softs was poor and I just felt like I had no grip. It was not a great feeling on that compound for some reason, so we have a bit of work to do in order to understand why that was the case. Obviously, the bigger picture is Sunday and that means Qualifying well tomorrow. So a bit of learning to do to see how we can extract the maximum tomorrow when we know it is even more important. Our focus in the meantime is to have a competitive Sprint and see if we can chase the top eight for points.”

Franco Colapinto, 11th, 1:33.249

“As always with Sprint weekends, you need to feel comfortable straight away in the car with limited practice time and we worked between the sessions to get it into a better place. SQ1 was a bit disrupted and stop and start, which stopped us getting into a rhythm and stringing a proper lap together, but we made it through. I struggled a bit at the start of the lap and think there's more performance to be found there. We put in a pretty good lap with the last run in SQ2, however it was not enough to progress, and a bit less than a tenth to Pierre and making it to SQ3. We know it will be tricky to overtake here and the start will be important, and from where we're starting we still have something to fight for. There's still some pace we can unlock from the car and hope to be in a stronger place for Qualifying also.”

Audi

Audi’s day did not start brilliantly, with Hulkenberg pulling over in FP1 with a gearbox issue. The team managed to get that fixed in time for Sprint Qualifying, but it left the German short of laps. You would not have known that in SQ1, when he made it through into the next segment relatively comfortably, as did his team mate. But they could progress no further – Hulkenberg winding up two places ahead of Bortoleto despite being just 0.046s quicker.

Nico Hulkenberg, 12th, 1:33.420

"It was a decent Sprint Qualifying. We had a very strong run in SQ1, and while SQ2 wasn't quite as competitive, I think it reflected where we are at the moment. Considering we had limited running in FP1, I'm reasonably satisfied with how the session went.

"It's going to be a tough weekend: hot, humid and physically demanding. We'll take what we've learned today, see where we can make some improvements overnight and then focus on getting the most out of the Sprint tomorrow."

Gabriel Bortoleto, 14th, 1:33.466

“Everything was very close in SQ2. I feel my final lap was decent, but I left a little bit on the table in the last sector, with a big snap at the second-to-last corner. With such small gaps between cars, that makes a difference. Overall, it’s been an interesting day. We started well in FP1, but towards the end of practice we had a few issues, and I wasn’t as happy with the car. At the start of qualifying, we were also off the pace we expected, but we managed to make a step forward and I felt more confident as the session went on. Still, it wasn’t quite enough for SQ3. It’s still early in the weekend and we’re far from having everything optimised, so there’s plenty to work on.”

Allan McNish, Racing Director

“The first part of Sprint Qualifying is always a busy session for everybody, particularly with the red flag confining the crucial part to the final five minutes of action. We got through SQ1 reasonably comfortably and, while the first lap in SQ2 was good, the second wasn't quite optimal for either one of our drivers. Ultimately, Nico and Gabi were left in 12th and 14th respectively, with very little separating the two of them.

“I think we ultimately had the performance to be inside the top ten, and we were only a small margin away from achieving that. From a pure performance perspective, we have a clear focus for tomorrow's main qualifying session and will aim to make it one step further. However, before that we have the Sprint race, and we need to make sure we are in ready to make the most of any opportunity in that one, too.”

Haas

Bearman was the pick of the two Haas drivers in Sprint Qualifying, but he was left a little confused at the end of SQ2. He initially believed he had driven a good enough lap to nearly make SQ3, but on hearing his position joked on the radio that he was “not that close.” As for Ocon, he'll start 16th thanks to a lock-up and might use the Sprint to gather valuable data to inform strategy for the Grand Prix.

Oliver Bearman, 13th, 1:33.423

“The car’s been feeling really good. We wanted to try something a little bit different, and based on what I felt so far in the car and the numbers, it didn’t seem to be ideal, but the feeling I had out there today was good. I felt a lot of confidence, and I could really push it, and that showed in the lap time as we were very close to SQ3. We had a very disrupted session in SQ2, with the first lap having to readjust from SQ1, where there were a few issues with the car. I think we can be happy with that result, and with a bit of fine-tuning, I think we can creep up there a little bit. Our target is the main race on Sunday and we’re close to the points there, so there’s every opportunity tomorrow afternoon to put ourselves in the best place.”

Esteban Ocon, 16th, 1:34.368

“We had a lock-up on the last lap that prevented us from a better qualifying. I was up quite a lot on the delta, so it’s a shame, but I've been having to push the car a lot this weekend. We’re on different specs to Ollie, so we’re just trying a few things which didn’t really work this session, and we changed a few parts on the car as well. We seem to have made a step backwards compared to FP1, where the feeling was good, so not a completely bad session – there are positives to take – but it’s not the way I wanted it to go in the end. It’s going to be tricky, but we take these learnings for the race, and the aim is to maximise qualifying tomorrow and start close to the top 10 on Sunday.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“It’s a Sprint weekend in Singapore, which is very exciting but hugely challenging as it’s a street circuit, and I think we did a good job in FP1. In SQ1, with the yellow and red flags, it was really challenging, but we did a good enough job to get out of SQ1. In SQ2, I think we left some performance out there. Esteban, before he had a lock-up, was close to Ollie, and overall, as a team I think we’re close to where we should be. We missed out on SQ3 by two and a half tenths, so there is a gap, but we know we need to improve and where. It’s actually disappointing not being closer, but there’s lots to be encouraged about. We'll learn a lot tonight and tomorrow in the Sprint, to then have a better car for qualifying tomorrow.”

Aston Martin

Alonso showed once again that the Aston martin car is improving, as he took his machine into SQ2 and managed to out-qualify Ocon. Stroll could not follow suit, falling at the first hurdle after brushing the barriers in FP1. Aston Martin are another team who will be taking a deep dive into the data tonight, to see if they can improve for Qualifying tomorrow.

Fernando Alonso, 15th, 1:33.734

“I’m a little disappointed to finish P15, as I felt we put together a very good lap. I felt comfortable in the car, but we were still dealing with a few issues that we weren't able to resolve due to only one practice session. We’ll continue working hard overnight to understand where we can improve and hopefully find some more performance ahead of both the Sprint and Qualifying tomorrow.”

Lance Stroll, 18th, 1:35.662

“On paper, Singapore should see us perform similar to Malaysia but we couldn’t get the car in the right window for Sprint Qualifying. I struggled to get a good feeling of the car here so far and didn’t have overtake mode available on my second push lap so missed out on any chances fighting to get through to Q2.”

Williams

It was not to be for Williams, who lost both cars in SQ1. Sainz struggled and wound up at the back, with Albon not that much further forward. Whether they can improve come Qualifying remains to be seen, with those upgrades still not consistently pushing them up the order. But at least they have time to try and hone those set-ups when the cars come out of parc ferme after the Sprint.

Carlos Sainz, 22nd, 1:37.376

“We had another software issue that impacted multiple cars. It was momentary, but I lost power during my flying lap and the lap was compromised. On top of that, we had some issues in FP1 with the brakes and had to make some changes that weren’t ideal. Scrappy lap overall as I also locked up into turn 8, so a qualifying to forget. It’s disappointing but we have another chance to go again tomorrow."

Alex Albon, 19th, 1:36.130

“It wasn't the Sprint qualifying we wanted, and we need to understand why the car felt so different from FP1. We'll dig into the data tonight, as Carlos and I are both experiencing some handling issues, compounded with the software issues in SQ1. There's work to do before tomorrow, and we'll see what we can learn in the Sprint to help set ourselves up for the rest of the weekend."

James Vowles, Team Principal

“A very frustrating evening. After the red flag in the first session of Sprint qualifying there was an issue with the way overtake mode was activated which definitely had an impact on our lap times. We are confident this will be fully investigated by the FIA.

"This issue doesn’t change the fact that our car performance isn’t where we want it to be – without the issue we had the potential to get both cars into the second part of Sprint qualifying but we will turn our attention now to getting the most out of tomorrow."

Cadillac

Perez had the biggest moment of the day at Marina Bay, running straight on at Turn 4 and hitting the barriers. That damaged his front wing, and when he tried to make it back to the pits, a portion of that front wing fell onto the track. The resultant debris brought out the red flags, but the Mexican did manage to recover himself to the pits and after a swift floor check, was able to continue. He managed to out-qualify his team mate by 0.038s.

Sergio Perez, 20th, 1:37.830

“It was a difficult Sprint Qualifying. I was pushing hard on my first lap in Turn 4 when the rear bottomed out quite aggressively, and I lost control of the car, ending up in the wall and damaging my front wing. We had to come back to the pits to change it, which compromised the session. It’s a shame, but we managed to put together a decent lap afterwards. We’re not too far away from where we should be, so we’ll focus on understanding the car better and improving our race pace for tomorrow.”

Valtteri Bottas, 21st, 1:36.868

“It was a pretty mixed up session with the Red Flag, and my second lap was a bit traffic-affected. It’s really bumpy here this year - it’s got bumpier - so we’re trying to improve our ride because the biggest lap-time gains will be there. It was quite a disrupted session so I couldn’t learn as much as I wanted to. I think we made some improvements from Practice and we’ll try to continue that direction for the rest of the weekend.”

Marcin Budkowski, Team Principal

“It was a tough Friday and Sprint Qualifying session for us in Singapore. Checo lost valuable track time in FP1 due to set-up changes in the garage, before experiencing some bottoming that caused him to hit a wall and damage his front wing during Sprint Qualifying. Valtteri's first timed lap was affected by yellow flags then was overtaken by another car while starting his last attempt at the end of the session, which affected his lap. Overall, a scrappy couple of sessions for us ahead of the Sprint tomorrow, and we will keep working on finding the best set up for our current package on this hot, dusty and challenging street circuit for Qualifying and the Race.”

Pirelli

Simone Berra, Pirelli Chief Engineer

"The level of track evolution was very significant from the very first session. If the circuit continues to improve at this rate, it is entirely possible that lap times tomorrow could be even quicker than initially forecast.

"From a tyre perspective, the factor that most differentiated the teams was warm-up. The combination of a green track and relatively low energy levels made temperature management more challenging for some teams, regardless of tyre compound. Others, however, were able to bring the tyres into the correct operating window very quickly, allowing them to push from the very first flying lap in qualifying.

"Today, teams focused more on single-lap performance than race pace because, with moderate temperatures and limited degradation, qualifying is likely to carry greater importance than race management. Between the C4 and C5 compounds, we measured a performance delta of around eight to nine tenths of a second, which is broadly in line with our expectations.

"One interesting aspect was the different approaches to qualifying lap preparation. Every team and driver adopted different strategies in terms of managing their attempts and cooling the tyres, while still extracting the best lap time available to them.

"It highlights just how different the cars and driving styles are, and how they can therefore require different approaches while still maximising the potential of the C5. Balance and the ability to bring the front axle up to temperature quickly were certainly key factors today. Looking ahead to tomorrow’s Sprint, both the Medium and Soft compounds appear to be viable options. This could lead to a split in strategy and add another interesting dimension to the short race."