Mercedes’ George Russell clinches surprise pole at F1 Singapore Grand Prix

SINGAPORE – The Marina Bay Street Circuit does not hold the fondest memories for Mercedes’ George Russell. It was here at the

2023 Singapore Grand Prix

, where a mistake on the final lap saw the Briton, who was third at the time, clip the wall and crash into the barriers.

After the second practice session on Oct 3, it was shaping up to be another Formula One weekend to forget for Russell, when he crashed into the wall at Turn 16, leading to the weekend’s first red flag.

The crash caused a tyre puncture and damaged the front wing of his car, ruling the 27-year-old out of the rest of the session.

But on Oct 4, Russell took a step closer to exorcising his demons here.

Fending off McLaren’s championship-leading duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, as well as Red Bull’s resurgent Max Verstappen, Russell pulled off a surprise by topping the timesheets in qualifying for the Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix.

He was quickest in 1min 29.158sec, with Verstappen 0.182sec behind him and Piastri 0.366sec adrift.

Russell’s teammate Kimi Antonelli and Norris, the defending Singapore GP champion, will start from fourth and fifth respectively on the grid. Ferrari wound up sixth and seventh, via Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc respectively.

Russell will now fancy his chances of a first win here on Oct 5, after

finishing fourth in 2024

and crashing on the final lap in 2023. Securing pole position is crucial on the tight and twisty 4.927km street circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult, with 10 out of 15 races in Singapore won by pole sitters.

Reflecting on the 2023 crash, Russell said at the post-qualifying press conference on Oct 4: “I’m a very different driver today than I was a couple of years ago.

“Yesterday was my first crash in over a year. This season is more within myself. I know the limits better, but the fact is, on the street circuit, you’ve only got to have a 1 per cent lapse of concentration. My mistake two years ago, it wasn’t a big mistake. It was a mistake of five centimetres, but the consequence was massive.

“And that’s the thing on a street circuit, you can’t afford to not be 100 per cent focused. But that’s the greatness of it too.”

Speaking to F1 TV right after qualifying ended, Russell had also noted that “Singapore has not been the kindest to me in the past, and that’s been through my own doing the majority of the time” and declared that he was not getting carried away with pole position.

Russell, who has stepped up to lead the team after Hamilton left to join Ferrari, added: “Of course, I’m in the best place to start. There’s a good pole side advantage here, so I’d like to think I can hold the lead into Turn 1.

“But obviously this guy on my left (Verstappen) is pretty good at race starts... so I will have to keep an eye.”

If he does claim victory, Russell will become the sixth different winner in Singapore in six editions since 2018. The 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 2025 edition

was declared F1’s first “heat hazard” race

earlier this week because temperatures are predicted to exceed 31 deg C amid high humidity, which means drivers can wear cooling vests. Those who do not do so must carry an extra 0.5kg of ballast so they do not gain an advantage over those with vests.

This is the second time this season that Russell has topped qualifying. In June, he converted pole

into victory at the Canadian Grand Prix

.

With seven races – including the Singapore race – remaining, Russell is fourth in the drivers’ standings with 212 points. Piastri (324) leads the way, Norris is second with 299 points, 44 ahead of Verstappen (255).

With four-time world champion Verstappen, who had entered the weekend following back-to-back wins at Monza and Baku, qualifying ahead of both McLarens, there could yet be a twist in the tale for the championship.

Singapore is the only track on the F1 calendar where the 28-year-old Dutchman has yet to taste victory – having finished second here twice (2018, 2024) – and he will now look to chase that maiden win from second on the grid.

“I think for us, so far, this weekend has again been a very solid one,” said Verstappen.

“No major trouble, we were always kind of there. I guess that’s good. So that is, of course, for us, at least very, very promising.”

Piastri, meanwhile, was left to rue the fine margins. The Australian said: “Ultimately, I don’t think the car had had enough in it for pole, so I’m pretty happy with the job I’ve done. Was it perfect? No, but I felt like it’s just been a good weekend, and, yeah, been close to the limit of what the car’s been able to do.”

But McLaren could still make it a weekend to remember as they are in prime position to seal back-to-back F1 constructors’ titles in Singapore.

The papaya-orange team will retain their crown on Oct 5 if just one of several scenarios plays out at the Marina Bay circuit: Attaining a single podium finish, or if both Mercedes fail to outscore them by 31 points and Ferrari do not gain 35 points on them.

Meanwhile, Williams had a double disqualification from the Singapore Grand Prix qualifying after technical breaches were found on the cars of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Albon had qualified 12th, one place and 0.033sec faster than Sainz but in regular post-session technical scrutiny, both cars were found to have exceeded the maximum limit of 85mm on both sides of the rear wing outer area.