Nocturnal 
Max Verstappen has beaten George Russell to sprint pole at the Singapore Grand Prix, holding on to top spot after a nervy two-hour investigation into an overtake made under yellow flags.
The Red Bull driver was quickest in sprint qualifying by just over a tenth of a second, continuing the red-hot form that saw him and Red Bull take their first win of the season in Malaysia last weekend.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had briefly held provisional pole, ended up third. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris filled fourth and fifth, with Lewis Hamilton sixth after an early run in final qualifying saw him slip down the order from second.
It was a tougher session for championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who could only manage seventh in his Mercedes. Antonelli is running the team’s new upgrade, which also struggled in Malaysia, while team-mate Russell is on the older specification car and finished half a second quicker. Russell will start Sunday’s main race with a grid penalty, though the research does not specify why.
Why it matters
Verstappen’s pole looked in serious doubt after he was investigated for passing Hamilton’s Ferrari under yellow flags in SQ1. The flags had been shown for debris after Sergio Perez crashed his Cadillac into the barriers.
Stewards reviewed telemetry and in-car footage from both drivers before ruling that, while Verstappen had technically breached the yellow-flag rules, the pass was “an unfortunate consequence of the significant closing speed differential” given he was on a flying lap. No penalty was applied, and his pole time stood.
Elsewhere in the session, the FIA admitted to a separate “human error” that hit several cars’ power levels. After the red flag for Perez’s crash, overtake mode — which allows drivers to harvest an extra 0.5MJ of energy — was left switched off before being turned on for a short spell and switched off again, depending on differing accounts, for either 27 or 28 seconds.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz, who was knocked out in the first session, said “half the cars did the lap with half a second quicker engine than the others” and questioned why the FIA had again failed to ensure “sporting equity” after a separate software issue affected the Malaysian Grand Prix just five days earlier. He admitted, though, that he didn’t think he would have progressed regardless.
Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll were also eliminated in the first session after being affected by the glitch, while Stroll’s team-mate Fernando Alonso struggled too but still made it through, eventually qualifying 15th.
What happens next
The Singapore Sprint gets under way on Saturday at 10am UK time, with qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix following at 2pm, both shown live on Sky Sports F1. Verstappen will start the sprint from pole with Russell alongside him on the front row, while Russell’s grid penalty means he faces a tougher task in Sunday’s main race. The FIA’s repeated power-setting glitches, now hitting two races in a row, are likely to face further scrutiny from teams before the next round.
