The Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) took pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay street circuit, where the leader and reigning Formula 1 champion, the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), qualified eighth, which added complexity to his chance to renew the title this weekend.
Leclerc, one of the two drivers with mathematical chances of discussing the championship with “MadMax”, will start from the front row along with the other driver in the race, the Mexican Sergio “Checo” Pérez, also with Red Bull.
The seven-time British champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) will start from third place, ahead of the Spaniards Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Alpine), who will occupy fourth and fifth places on the starting grid of the Singapore GP, who returns after two years of absence due to the pandemic.
Verstappen is the absolute leader of the F1 World Championship with an advantage of 116 points with six dates remaining in the season. The Dutchman will be champion this Sunday if he wins and Leclerc does not improve to ninth place and “Checo” Pérez does not improve to fourth place or finish in that position without setting the fastest lap. The other consecrating option for Verstappen is to win with the fastest lap, that the Monegasque does not improve an eighth place and “Checo” does not get on the podium.
The night Singapore GP will be held over 61 laps on a 5,063-kilometer urban circuit from 9:00 in Argentina, with Star + transmission.