Carlos Sainz Takes Pole in Wild Singapore Qualifying

Carlos Sainz took pole for the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix in a memorable qualifying session.

Sainz was able to outlast both George Russell and teammate Charles Leclerc, who qualified second and third, respectively. It’s the second straight pole for the Spaniard.

CARLOS SAINZ TAKES BACK-TO-BACK POLES!@Carlossainz55 lights up the streets of Marina Bay to take his second pole in a row for @ScuderiaFerrari!#SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/FxNCb2uTSc

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 16, 2023

“[It was] a bit like Monza, really,” Sainz said while walking through his session in the podium interviews. “Just hitting the ground running all through the sessions, put it together in Q3. Just focusing, not doing any mistakes in that lap. Keeping it clean around here in Singapore, [that] pays off. It was a bit of a messy session for everyone, but we kept the focus, put in a good lap at the end.”

The biggest surprise of the year so far in qualifying occurred in Q2. Liam Lawson, in just his third F1 start, knocked Max Verstappen out by just seven thousandths of a second.

It’s been a miserable weekend for Red Bull. In addition to neither of their cars making it to Q3 for the first time in five years, they looked miserable throughout the three practice sessions and Verstappen has been very upset with how the car drives over the radio. He’s also facing two investigations for impeding during qualifying that the FIA has not completed as of press time.

Q3

There were no incidents in this round.

Pos.	Driver	Nation	Constructor	Engine
1.	Sainz	Spain	Ferrari	Works Team
2.	Russell	Great Britian	Mercedes	Works Team
3.	Leclerc	Monaco	Ferrari	Works Team
4.	Lando Norris	Great Britian	McLaren	Mercedes
5.	Lewis Hamilton	Great Britian	Mercedes	Works Team
6.	Kevin Magnussen	Denmark	Haas	Ferrari
7.	Fernando Alonso	Spain	Aston Martin Aramco	Mercedes
8.	Esteban Ocon	France	Alpine	Renault
9.	Nico Hulkenburg	Germany	Haas	Ferrari
10.	Lawson	New Zealand	AlphaTauri	Honda RBPT

Q2

Sergio Perez spun out on his final lap, effectively knocking him out of qualifying. No other incidents occurred in this session.

Pos.	Driver	Nation	Constructor	Engine
11.	Verstappen	Netherlands	Red Bull	Honda RBPT
12.	Pierre Gasly	France	Alpine	Renault
13.	Perez	Mexico	Red Bull	Honda RBPT
14.	Alex Albon	Thailand	Williams	Mercedes
15.	Yuki Tsunoda	Japan	AlphaTauri	Honda RBPT

Q1

There was a massive and dramatic hit during the last hot laps of the session. Lance Stroll jumped the curb and violently smashed the wall coming out of the final turn.

Not much left of Lance's AMR23 after that one 😱#SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/sE9gejD3hm

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 16, 2023

Stroll was able to walk away visibly uninjured, but his Aston Martin was completely destroyed and couldn’t finish its last lap. This also prevented the five eliminated drivers from completing their final laps along with a number of others; Tsunoda set the fastest time in the session as a comparison.

Logan Sargeant will be investigated for potentially impeding Stroll earlier on during this session.

Pos.	Driver	Nation	Constructor	Engine
16.	Valtteri Bottas	Finland	Alfa Romeo	Ferrari
17.	Oscar Piastri	Australia	McLaren	Mercedes
18.	Sargeant	United States	Williams	Mercedes
19.	Zhou Guanyu	China	Alfa Romeo	Ferrari
20.	Stroll	Canada	Aston Martin Aramco	Mercedes

F1 Singapore Grand Prix Starting Lineup

Lights out for the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix will take place on Sunday (Sept. 17) at 8 a.m. ET, with coverage by Sky Sports and broadcast on ESPN.