Norris aces one-lap shootout to seal pole in Singapore

Remaining composed in the face of an impromptu one-lap shootout, Lando Norris secured his sixth pole position of his career at the Singapore Grand Prix, lining up from the front of a mixed grid for Sunday’s race.

Qualifying 1:

With the driver starting on pole position having claimed victory in nine of the last 14 outings at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, the fight for front-row glory was all the more important as qualifying kicked off in Singapore.

Periodically filing out of the pitlane, the cooler conditions proved difficult to come to grips with across the board.

It was a smooth session for Oscar Piastri, with the Australian advancing to the second round of qualifying without any doubts.

Piastri started his campaign with the fourth fastest time, edging closer to his teammate as just two-tenths stood between the McLarens. 

On his final run, which truly secured the #81 his place in Q2, Piastri lit up the timing sheets to record a time of 1:30.258s as the track ramped up, ending the session in a positive P3.

Daniel Ricciardo couldn’t say the same about his final qualifying position, being eliminated from the session after falling over a tenth short of the top 15 times. 

The RB driver started his session by setting the ninth fastest time, eight-tenths slower than the then-benchmark before falling all the way down the order into P15.

Sitting as the driver at risk, Ricciardo’s final run complied with personal best sector times only boosted him into P12, with Esteban Ocon the driver to knock the Australian out of the fight by 0.127 seconds.

Yuki Tsunoda advanced to Q2, out-qualifying his teammate who expected “much, much more” after a positive start to the weekend.

Daniel Ricciardo walks in the Pitlane after qualifying in P17. Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

The Ferrari duo were among the first cars to exit the pitlane, starting their session off on a relatively solid note barring Carlos Sainz’s hiccup at the first turn, seeing the Spaniard noted for not following the race director’s instructions after ignoring the bollard. 

Charles Leclerc momentarily held the top spot, but in a similar fashion to his FP3 dominance, Lando Norris charged through the 4.9km lap to reinstate his place in the lead.

The McLaren driver held the fastest time through to the chequered flag, improving later in the session as track evolution became a huge factor for the field.

Struggling in Q1, Red Bull had a nervous viewing for one of its drivers in particular, with Sergio Perez slipping closer and closer to the elimination zone as the session progressed. 

He wasn’t alone in the latter half of the timing sheets, with both Mercedes drivers uncomfortable with their cars and tyre behaviour, with George Russell condemning his Pirellis, saying they were “totally different to FP3”.

Despite a stressful final run in which improvements initially looked scarce, the teal Mercedes cars scraped through to the second round of qualifying, albeit frustrated.

When the drivers retreated for a momentary reset in their respective garages, it was Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Franco Colapinto and Lance Stroll who occupied the bottom five positions, with the rookie the only driver able to redeem himself on his final run, jumping into P9 with his Williams teammate also sitting comfortably in the top ten.

Qualifying 2:

The second session put Piastri back on the map as a true pole position contender after sitting at a deficit to his teammate all weekend.

The Australian started the session following the usual trend, sitting three-tenths behind Norris while occupying P3 before lighting up the timing sheet on his final run.

Piastri ended the session as the quickest driver in Q2, holding P1 with a time of 1:29.640s which placed him three-tenths ahead of Norris.

Scrambling to help their struggling drivers, Red Bull sent its cars out on track first, hoping to dictate their out-laps after dealing with frustrating traffic incidents in the opening 18 minutes.

Verstappen was the quicker of the Bulls, recording two purple sectors before running wide at the final corner and having his lead lap deleted.

Max Verstappen on track during qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix. Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

Norris was on rails again, not replicating his championship rival’s Turn 19 error as he crossed the line to set the time to beat.

And beat it Lewis Hamilton did, becoming the first driver of the session to break into the 1m29s.

His Mercedes teammate moved into P3, however, it wasn’t a comfortable ride for Russell who was straight on the radio to issue his complaints regarding his lack of grip. 

As a lull fell over the session, Norris found himself sandwiched in between the Mercedes drivers, with Verstappen remaining out on track as he tried to punch in a respectable banker lap.

Joining the Dutchman in the elimination zone were Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Colapinto and Ocon, with Perez moving into the at-risk position when Verstappen skyrocketed from P15 to P1.

With just two minutes on the clock, the Ferrari drivers set off for their final flying runs of Q2, with Leclerc immediately setting the fastest Sector 1.

Their laps trailed off in the latter half of the 4.9km circuit, however, sitting in P3 and P6, it was enough for the duo to safely advance.

Unable to advance for the second year in a row in Singapore, Sergio Perez found himself knocked out in Q2 after wrestling the RB20 and failing to improve from P13.

Instead, his absence opened up additional space within the top ten for a non-top four team to squeeze a driver through to Q3, with Nico Hulkenberg, Tsunoda and Alonso the fortunate drivers. 

Joining the Mexican in his Q2 elimination were the Williams drivers who expected more of their session after showing strong signs in the three practice sessions, along with Kevin Magnussen on return and Ocon. 

The top three were separated by one-tenth, building up to a marginal top-ten shootout in the next session.

Qualifying 3:

The remaining 10 drivers queued in the pitlane, headed by Piastri as they stared down the green light for an unpredictable Q3.

The green light was short-lived, however, with the #81, Verstappen and Hulkenberg the only drivers to record a time before Sainz crashed at the final corner on the build-up to his first lap. 

Carlos Sainz walks away from his damaged car after his Q3 crash. Image: Lionel Ng / Sutton Images.

Sitting in P1, Verstappen’s lap was ultimately deleted after a quick review showed it was completed under double-waved yellow flags, boosting Piastri’s time of 1:30.037s to provisional pole as the field returned to the pitlane.

When Q3 resumed green flag conditions, the track remained empty with drivers holding out for a one-lap shootout at the end of the session.

The build-up to the shootout commenced with four minutes to go, with Piastri again the lead car wanting to be able to dictate his out-lap and avoid potential yellow flags as opposed to prioritising track evolution.

Guiding his teammate through the 19 corners, it was a personal best Sector 1 for Piastri, better than his teammate’s yellow effort, however, that trend slowly shifted.

A purple middle sector saved Norris’ lap, outshining Piastri’s eight-hundredths of improvement to seal his sixth career pole position with a time of 1:29.525s.  

The drivers behind didn’t have the pace to match or surpass Norris, instead fighting it out for the final place on the front row.

Sliding down the order, P2 wasn’t Piastri’s to keep when he was initially demoted by Hamilton before Verstappen completed his charge to sit alongside the #4 McLaren. 

Russell pushed the Australian further down the order when he moved into P4, leaving Piastri in P5 for tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix.

Joining the #81 on the third row of the grid, Nico Hulkenberg managed to outpace the sole remaining Ferrari on merit before Leclerc’s pain was compounded by a lap deletion for exceeding track limits at Turn 2.

As a result, the Ferrari duo will line up from P9 and P10, with a charge through the field the only choice in their hunt for a rare slice of championship success in 2024.

Ahead of Leclerc, Alonso and Tsunoda will occupy Row 4, two drivers who are always more than happy to act as a roadblock on their individual missions to score points in Singapore.

The exciting, jumbled-up starting order will make for a thrilling 62 laps of racing on Sunday night, with the five lights set to go out at 10:00 PM, AEST.

Image: Steven Tee / LAT Images

Singapore GP Qualifying Results:

2024 Singapore Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday, September 20th:

FP1: 19:30 – 20:30

FP2: 23:00 – 00:00

Saturday, September 21st:

FP3: 19:30 – 20:30

Qualifying: 23:00 – 00:00

Sunday, September 22nd:

Race: 22:00

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