George Russell delivered under the lights in Singapore. The Mercedes driver put his car on pole with a 1:29.165, brushing the wall but keeping his foot in. Verstappen chased but fell short by 0.182s.
🕓 Updated October 4, 2025 – Following post-session scrutineering, both Williams cars were disqualified from qualifying for rear-wing technical non-conformities.
Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli line up on the second row, while McLaren’s title bid faltered with Norris only fifth.
Q1 – Alpine misery, Gasly stops on track
Qualifying opened with the usual frantic rush for track position. Gasly’s Alpine brought yellow flags when his steering failed at Turn 11, stopping him in his tracks. Several drivers improved through the yellows and the stewards noted it for investigation.
Franco Colapinto clipped the wall and limped out, Stroll couldn’t escape Q1 for the eighth time in nine races, and Bortoleto lacked the pace to progress. Ocon joined them on the sidelines.
Eliminated in Q1: Bortoleto, Stroll, Colapinto, Ocon, Gasly
Q2 – Sainz shock exit, Antonelli keeps rising
The drama shifted to Williams in Q2. Carlos Sainz, hoping to back up his Baku heroics, missed the cut in P13. A scruffy final lap left him stranded, and with the track ramping up he was pushed out.
Antonelli, by contrast, lit up the timing screens. Purple first and second sectors showed his confidence, and he punched through safely into Q3. Hulkenberg, Albon, Lawson and Tsunoda were all eliminated.
Eliminated in Q2: Hulkenberg, Albon, Sainz, Lawson, Tsunoda
Q3 – Russell’s wall brush, Verstappen denied
The top ten fight was all about nerve.
Russell went all-in on fresh C5 softs, bouncing his car off the barriers but keeping it straight. His lap a 1:29.165, was the marker. Verstappen answered, but a slow middle sector cost him. 0.182s down, the Red Bull driver had to settle for second.
McLaren split fortunes. Piastri squeezed into third with a clean run, Antonelli continued his impressive rookie streak to go fourth, but Norris never hooked it up and finished only fifth.
Hamilton lacked fresh tyres for the final push and stayed sixth. Leclerc brushed the wall but recovered seventh. Hadjar claimed eighth, Bearman put Haas into Q3 for the first time since Silverstone, and Alonso rounded out the top ten on used tyres.
Top 10: Russell, Verstappen, Piastri, Antonelli, Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc, Hadjar, Bearman, Alonso
Standout stories
Russell – Only his second pole of the season, both on street circuits. His heavy kiss with the wall showed how close he was running.
Verstappen – Looked strong in FP3 and through early runs, but could not extract enough in the decisive sector.
Antonelli – Outqualified Russell’s team-mate again. The rookie is now firmly part of the front-running conversation.
McLaren – Both cars into Q3 but not the dominance expected. Norris looked off balance, Piastri rescued the session. Their chance to clinch the Teams’ Championship may have to wait.
Sainz – Knocked out in Q2. Williams magic stalled after the highs of Baku.
Bearman – Dragged Haas into Q3 again. First since Silverstone, proving there is still fight in the VF-25.
📸 Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team / Mark Thompson
Team reactions – VCARB
Isack Hadjar:
“It was frustrating out there today. It’s nice that we finished again in Q3, but at the same time, we wasted the potential that was there. I was pushing hard during my last lap in qualifying and felt like I was going for something special, but I made a mistake in Turn 8. I can only be annoyed at myself as the car worked really well. Starting P8 is on the dirty side, but we’ll fight for points.”
Liam Lawson:
“The team have done an amazing job to get the car ready in time for qualifying. I can’t thank them enough. I made it difficult for myself by missing laps in practice, but qualifying went okay. I drove slower on the new tyre than I did on the used, which we’ll need to look into. It’ll be tough to overtake tomorrow, but I’ll keep pushing.”
Tim Goss – Chief Technical Officer:
“It was an excellent qualifying session under the lights. The car worked well right from the start, and the mechanics did a fantastic job rebuilding Liam’s car. Isack delivered on our first mission of the weekend by qualifying eighth ahead of key rivals in the Constructors’ fight. It was close, and with a perfect lap, we might have out-qualified the Ferraris. That ambition shows how far we’ve come.”
Team reactions – Alpine
Pierre Gasly:
“There’s not much to say today as we didn’t manage to complete our final push lap with the stoppage at Turn 11. We had a suspected oil protection cut, which the team will investigate. It’s frustrating that we couldn’t finish the lap, but we’ll reset for the race and aim to capitalise on any opportunities.”
Franco Colapinto:
“It’s obviously not the result we wanted to be out in Q1, but there are positives. The car felt the best it has all weekend and I was able to push harder. Maybe we could have been a bit higher with a cleaner final run, but overtaking is difficult here. We’ll focus on strategy and try to move forward.”
Steve Nielsen – Managing Director:
“We knew it would be an uphill task to make it out of Q1 given our pace across practice. Pierre had an oil protection cut that shut down the power unit, while Franco hit some traffic. It’ll be a tough Sunday, but anything can happen in Singapore.”
Top 3 Driver reactions – Singapore GP qualifying
George Russell (Mercedes):
“Amazing to be on pole position. Yesterday was a very challenging day for many reasons, so it is great to come back and get a result. I knew there was potential in the car, Kimi was doing a great job and I was inspired by what he was doing. Singapore has not been the kindest to me in the past, I think I can hold it into Turn 1 but this guy [Verstappen] is pretty good at race starts so…”
Max Verstappen (Red Bull):
“It could have been close for pole but it is hard when there is a car just cruising two seconds in front. It has been noted.”
Oscar Piastri (McLaren):
“I don’t think we had four tenths in it to get pole.”
Stewards’ decisions
The FIA confirmed that Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon’s cars failed post-qualifying rear wing checks. Both were disqualified from the session and will start from the back of the grid for Sunday’s race.
The Q1 yellow flag investigation involving cars 5 (Bortoleto), 27 (Hulkenberg), 22 (Tsunoda) and 63 (Russell) resulted in no further action after stewards confirmed all drivers slowed appropriately through the sector.
Final Classification – 2025 Singapore Grand
Sunday ahead
Russell has pole, Verstappen the pressure. McLaren’s cushion in the championship remains, but they look vulnerable. Ferrari and Williams have work to do from the midfield.
Singapore rarely offers clean overtakes. Expect strategy, safety cars and nerves.
Lights out: Sunday, 20:00 local.
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