Max Verstappen takes Singapore GP pole after sprint victory
Max Verstappen took pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay street circuit on 10 October 2026, outpacing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc after winning the sprint earlier in the day.
Verstappen’s pole came as championship leader Kimi Antonelli qualified fourth for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton took third for Ferrari, with Lando Norris fifth for McLaren. George Russell finished sixth on track in qualifying but will start from the back of the grid on Sunday after taking an extra engine that breaches the permitted allocation. Russell crashed out of the sprint while leading on the opening lap and his error forced the team to rebuild his car before qualifying.
Russell described the incident as a self-inflicted error. “Miscalculation,” he said. “Came through the corner had more battery deployment than I thought, pushed me a little bit wider than I hoped and went on to the white line. Silly mistake. Big consequences.” The crash occurred in wet conditions at the end of lap one when Russell lost the rear and hit the barriers, removing him from the sprint.
In Q3 on his first flying lap Verstappen set a 1min 31.373sec benchmark that proved out of reach for his rivals, with Hamilton finishing a tenth adrift at that stage. On the final runs Hamilton could not improve, Leclerc did and moved into second, but Verstappen held pole by five-hundredths of a second.
Verstappen added to a strong weekend by converting his sprint win into pole for the Grand Prix after a rain-delayed dash earlier in the day. The Red Bull driver had also taken his first pole and victory of the season in Malaysia, and his pole in Singapore was recorded as his 50th career pole and his first pole at this circuit.
The sprint itself was largely uneventful on track once Verstappen inherited the lead after Russell’s crash, with drivers managing tyres to the flag as overtaking proved difficult. Hamilton made a strong start in the sprint to climb from sixth to third at the outset, while Verstappen controlled the race from the front to keep Hamilton behind him.
Late sprint drama involved a clash between McLaren teammates when Lando Norris attempted a move on Oscar Piastri on the final lap; the contact took Piastri out and dropped Norris to eighth. That incident promoted Antonelli from sixth to fourth in the sprint, extending the gap over his teammate after Russell’s engine failure in Malaysia from 84 points to 89 points.
Verstappen will begin Sunday’s race from pole with Leclerc alongside, Hamilton third, Antonelli fourth and Norris fifth, while Russell will start at the back of the grid due to the engine penalty; Antonelli’s championship lead stands at 89 points following the sprint.