FORMULA 1
 Credit: Simon Galloway Lando Norris put in an almighty lap in the latter stages of qualifying on Saturday afternoon to take pole position for this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix. The McLaren driver put in a stunning effort with one attempt at trying to take pole position and for the sixth time in his Formula 1 career he has done just that as he beat his competitors as he topped Q3. Norris has taken pole ahead of his championship rival and the championship leader Max Verstappen, who put in a great effort for Red Bull to finish second and he pair will start alongside one another on the front row for Sunday's Grand Prix. A great lap in the latter stages from Lewis Hamilton, saw him take third and out-qualify George Russell for just the fifth time this season. It will be an important confidence boost for Hamilton who saw his teammate George Russell qualify in fourth. Ferrari had a very difficult day with neither driver setting a lap time, whether that be Carlos Sainz or Charles Leclerc, Sainz would have an incident at the start of Q3 bringing out a red flag and Charles Leclerc would have his lap time deleted due to a track limits violation. With rain expected for the Grand Prix on Sunday, this qualifying has given a lot of exciting action in prospect with three Brits and Verstappen on the front two rows.
It would be time to begin the qualifying session for the Singapore Grand Prix and with just seven rounds remaining in the 2024 championship, each grid position is going to be hugely significant for the drivers competing for a variety of different positions, which could mean a great deal to the Constructors they race for. The night skies were making the street lights shining on the track as qualifying was raring to go and the grandstands were packed ready for the action with fans excited for the qualifying session that was about to happen. First up in the trilogy of session in qualifying would be Q1, which would see all 20 drivers participate in an 18 minute session for the top 15 spots. The top 15 from the session would progress into Q2, with the bottom five drivers being eliminated from the rest of qualifying. At 21:00 track time, the green light would be on at the end of the pit lane, signalling the session would be underway as the two Alpine cars and the two Kick Sauber cars would head out first, followed by the two bright red Ferrari cars. On the first laps, Leclerc would put down the first benchmark lap time of real representation would be a 1:30.896, which was seven tenths clear of Sergio Perez, who was second and seven tenths behind. However, this would shortly be beaten by McLaren's Lando Norris, who would set a 1:30.724, which would be almost two tenths quicker than Leclerc and the man who topped free practice 3 earlier on in the day looked to have the pace in Q1. Norris' teammate Oscar Piastri would go third - two hundredths quicker than Sainz in fourth. These positions would change though before everyone had set their times, as championship leader Max Verstappen would put himself into third place behind Norris and Leclerc, but ahead of Piastri. The two Mercedes drivers had been struggling a lot over the course of the weekend and by the time everyone had completed their laps, they were 11th and 13th, with Lewis Hamilton in 11th and George Russell would go 13th. All cars would head out again for the second runs with the track severely ramping up with Alex Albon being the first driver to set an improved lap time but this was likely to be beaten as everyone was improving on their personal bests. It came as no great surprise with Lando Norris going straight back to the top of the times by oer six tenths as Perez was able to find a lap to get himself into Q2 after a much better lap than on his first occaision. Franco Colapinto was a risk but he put that all at ease as he set a much improved lap time to join his teammate in the next part of qualifying. Colapinto had never driven at the Marina Bay street circuit, just like Baku, and the Argentine driver had made it through to Q2 on both occasions when experiencing a new track. By the end of the session Norris would finish fastest overall ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri completing the top three. As for being eliminated it would be Daniel Ricciardo in potentially his last Formula 1 qualifying session for Visa RB this season, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly and the two Kick Sauber drivers - Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu
It would be time for the second part of qualifying with the 15 drivers who had made it through from Q1, would fight for the top 10 places and get themselves into the third part of qualifying and get in the final hunt for pole position. The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane and this would start the session with the two Red Bull drivers heading out first. It would be Sergio Perez being followed by Max Verstappen. With the early laps in Verstappen would have been looking to sit fastest but him running wide in the final corner saw his lap time be deleted as he had exceeded track limits and therefore would have to do it all again. Lando Norris' time would be legal and more than good enough to go fastest overall with a 1:30.007 and it would be a good lap to see himself ahead of Charles Leclerc, with Oscar Piastri slotting into third. This would be beaten when Lewis Hamilton would eventually set a lap time after Mercedes had come out much later than everyone else to try and attempt a fastest lap with a cler track as everyone else was heading back to the pits. Verstappen would want to make good use of a quiet track too as his lap time had been deleted and would therefore need to find a good enough lap to see himself through to the final part of qualifying. With four minutes to go, it would be well timed and the reigning world champion would see himself go fastest overall as some of the drivers would be starting to head out onto the track to set their final laps in Q2 and to try and book themselves in the top 10 shootout. By the end of the session it would be Piastri who would go top of the time sheets with a great lap from the McLaren driver. As for drivers eliminated, the two Williams cars would come incredibly close to making it through but ultimately would not prevail Alex Albon and Franco Coalpinto would be within a tenth of progressing and within just seven thousandths of a second of one another. Albon and Colapinto would be joined by Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon but more importantly Sergio Perez! The Red Bull driver would be eliminated for the second year in a row in Q2 at the Marina Bay street circuit. He would be out while Verstappen and Visa RB's Yuki Tsunoda would progress. Not a good look for the Mexican driver.
It would be then time for the final part of qualifying, the top 10 shootout which would be Q3 and would set the top 10 for Sunday's Grand Prix. Both Ferrari drivers, both McLaren drivers and Verstappen were all in with a shot as were the Mercedes duo with an outside chance. The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane and would head out onto the circuit and it would be the sole Haas of Nico Hulkenberg who would be the first driver to head out for Q3 with other drivers following him out. The seven drivers from the top four teams would all be on fresh tyres whereas Yuki Tsunoda, Fernando Alonso and Huleknebrg on used C5 soft tyres. On their first laps, Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were all near enough matched in the opening sector but it would all count for nothing as there were would be a red flag! Carlos Sainz of Ferrari would be the man to bring the halt to proceedings as the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix had crashed at the final corner, a nightmare for Ferrari. This came just after Oscar Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg had set the lap times and therefore they would keep them. Verstappen would have his deleted as he would not get as lucky. Verstappen did lift but as he crossed the line when the red flag was brought out, he would have it deleted. As for Sainz he went into a spin after his tyres had cooled after he was about to go for a lap but had to slow due to Piastri speeding by to complete his lap. In doing so he would lose control and be a passenger to the scene of the accident. Sainz would be out of qualifying and the qualifying session would be halted while the Marshals cleared up the incident by removing Sainz's broken down Ferrari and re-shape the barriers that had been moved due to Sainz hitting them. Eventually the session would be back underway and the drivers would wait a while until they would head out for just the one flying lap at the very end of the session when hopefully the track would be in the best possible position and their tyres would be in the best possible condition. The drivers would head out with three minutes remaining and it would be all nine of them that were still running who fancied their chances at improving their grid positions. It would be McLaren who would bolt first and opt for the front of the queue and therefore would be the first ones across the line. Piastri would be the lead car and he would be dutifully followed by Lando Norris. Piastri could only improve a fraction and would have been hoping for better as meanwhile Lando Norris was producing something spectacular as he had got great rhythm through the car and the circuit and was linking up apex after apex. He would cross the line with a staggering 1:29.525 that would take some beating and that would be if anyone could as Leclerc and Verstappen would be behind as well as the two Mercedes drivers. Lewis Hamilton would find a great lap but could only go second as Max Verstappen would find more pace to dislodge the Mercedes man but was not able to take the pole position away from the McLaren while Leclerc could get nowhere near enough and to add salt to his championship-challenging wounds - he would have his time deleted due to track limits and would only be ninth. Ferrari ninth and 10th after initially looking like the fastest team on Friday. No one could get Lando Norris though, who would register the sixth pole position of his Formula 1 career with a brilliant lap and it would be a crucial one too as the McLaren driver would have the favourable grid position and would start from the front on Sunday Norris will be joined on the front row for Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix by the championship leader and his championship rival Max Verstappen, who qualified second and will fancy his chances to win the Singapore Grand Prix for the first time in his career. Mercedes will be surprisingly happy with their qualifying results as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were third and fourth respectively and the British duo will lineup on the second row. This was some turnaround and they might have Frederik Vesti to thank as the reserve driver was working hard through the night, on the simulator, back in Brackley. Oscar Piastri would have to settle for fifth as Nico Hulkenberg showed his qualifying skills once again to end up sixth and be the highest of the Ferrari-powered machines. Fernando Alonso is seventh ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in the Visa RB with the top 10 being completed by the two Ferrari drivers in ninth and 10th - Leclerc ahead of Sainz. After an incredible qualifying session, the racing action is the most important as that is where the points are won and lost. The race will commence on Sunday under the night skies of Singapore at the Marina Bay street circuit. Lights out will be from 20:00 track time, which is a race start of 12pm in UK time. This is one that is not to be missed. 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship: Round 18 - Singapore Grand Prix provisional classification
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
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