Max Verstappen snatched pole position for the Formula 1 Singapore sprint race in a hectic qualifying session Friday, while George Russell seized a chance to make up ground on standings leader Kimi Antonelli.
The action was overshadowed when the cars' settings were wrongly changed by race control, affecting the cars and blamed for some drivers being eliminated from the session early.
Verstappen went fastest by 0.120 of a second from Russell, whose strategy of all-out attack this week leaves him starting Saturday's sprint five places ahead of Mercedes teammate Antonelli. Charles Leclerc begins the sprint third for Ferrari.
“I did not expect this, very happy to be first,” Verstappen said. “The last few races we have been a lot stronger but this track still highlights a few weaknesses in the car, but we have tried to drive with them as much as possible.”
After winning last week's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia with an upgraded Red Bull car, Verstappen has now shown he can build on that success on a very different sort of track. Starting on pole is extra valuable in Singapore because overtaking is difficult on the tight street circuit.
Verstappen was summoned by the stewards in an investigation into whether he overtook Lewis Hamilton earlier in the qualifying session under yellow flags, but he was not penalized.
‘Human error' blamed for slowing cars
Cars were down on power for several minutes in the first part of Friday's qualifying session because “overtake mode” — an electrical power boost activated by the drivers — was disabled.
Williams team principal James Vowles said the issue played a role in both of his drivers being eliminated, with Alex Albon 19th and Carlos Sainz, Jr. 22nd. “We are confident this will be fully investigated by the FIA,” Vowles said.
The FIA blamed “a human error in race control” which meant cars were blocked from using overtake mode after the session was briefly red-flagged. The setting was then switched back on for 27 seconds, and switched off again.
“The FIA acknowledges that this unfortunate human error had an impact on the performance of certain cars based on the timing of their run and their position around the lap,” the governing body said.
It's the latest in a series of issues with the software which governs the 2026 cars' electrical power and comes five days after cars crawled to a halt in the rain in Malaysia, delaying the race start.
Why Russell is going all-out as title challenge fades
The sprint is Russell’s best chance of challenging Antonelli this weekend because the British driver must serve a grid penalty for Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix.
Russell's power unit suddenly failed Sunday during the Bahrain Grand Prix, leaving him with a penalty this week for an engine change.
After that, it's "all-out attack, just trying to enjoy the weekend," Russell said Thursday. "Obviously not an ideal situation, but Singapore is a place I love and I’ll try and carve my way through the pack.”
On a day when Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff slammed as “brainless” the claims that Mercedes would favor Antonelli over Russell, the Italian produced one of his worst qualifying performances of the year, nearly seven-tenths of a second off the pace.
Russell is using an older-specification car in Singapore, while Antonelli tries to make the best of an updated package he called “unpredictable” Friday which hasn't worked as expected in recent races. “I think it will be a difficult weekend,” he added.
With the final sprint race of the season Saturday, Russell and his rivals will have an unusual daylight race on the streets of the southeast Asian city state, before the typical night race Sunday.
Russell said Singapore was “probably the second-bottom of the list” in terms of the ease of fighting back after a penalty, and predicted he may need to serve another for an engine change before the season is over.
It's a big contrast with the last time Antonelli had to serve a penalty. Mercedes changed his engine for the Italian Grand Prix in a planned move, calculating that overtaking was easy enough at Monza that he could limit the damage. He did far more than that and took a statement victory in his home race.
Antonelli could clinch title in Texas
Antonelli finished second behind Verstappen in Malaysia for his sixth podium finish in the last seven races, moving him 84 points clear of Russell in the standings.
With 33 points on offer across Singapore's sprint race and Grand Prix, if Antonelli scores 16 points more than Russell this week, he'd have a shot at sealing the title at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 25.
Lando Norris may have a fix for his McLaren's straight-line speed problem, but this weekend could still spell the end of his title defense if Antonelli outscores the McLaren driver by 18 points. Leclerc and Verstappen could also be eliminated from contention.
Rain, haze, heat could test drivers
Singapore is always a tough test for drivers because of the heat and humidity, compared to a sauna by Verstappen on Friday. This week, add in a haze of air pollution from forest fires in nearby Indonesia.
The haze was present last week in Malaysia, too. Singapore organizers said Friday they are monitoring the conditions but there are “currently no plans to modify our entertainment activities” around the race.
Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas has plenty of first-hand experience of the local conditions after cycling from Sepang to Singapore this week.
There's also a chance of rain affecting the action on Saturday and Sunday. Not only is a wet street track a tricky proposition, but there's extra scrutiny on the cars after the software bug in Malaysia.
