Charles Leclerc emerged as the fastest man on track in a wild qualifying session at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore. It was the Monegasque’s ninth pole position of the 2022 season. He claimed pole position with a lap time of 1:49.412 seconds from Sergio Perez in second for Red Bull with a time of 1:49.434 and Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes with a time of 1:49.466. The top three drivers were separated by a tantalizing margin of just 0.54 seconds.
Qualifying started in wet conditions with the track having damp patches and standing water in a few braking zones. Everyone started with intermediate tires. At the end of the session, Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), and the two Williams of Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi found themselves in the bottom 5 of the timing sheets and were eliminated from the session.
Most people seemed to struggle in the challenging conditions at the beginning as the track proved to stay static and not show signs of drying up. Few had spins and moments in the heavy braking zones.
Q2 began in similar fashion. With the conditions seeming to improve, it was looking that the fight for pole would be between the two Red Bulls, the two Ferraris and Lewis Hamilton. George Russell was nowhere near the pace of his teammate. And to everyone’s shock, he got eliminated in Q2 and starts the race in eleventh place. Later Russell addressed that he was facing issues similar to those he faced in FP1 on Friday. Towards the end of the session, Aston Martin took the gamble for slick tires as they put on a set of softs for both Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll. It obviously did not go according to plan as the track stayed unforgiving and both drivers failed to generate heat into the tires. With the chequered flag out, it was George Russel, the two Aston Martins of Vettel and Stroll, Mick Schumacher in the Haas and Guanyu Zhou of Alfa Romeo who were knocked out.
Late charges from Alpha Tauri boys Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda saw both the cars qualify for Q3. The shootout for pole was on with the last ten cars left. The track seemingly dried out and everyone switched to the soft tires except for the Alpha Tauri cars. Initially Tsunoda showed good pace but later the slick tire runners beat him easily. In a dramatic 10 minutes, the track kept evolving as the positions kept changing at the top. Both Verstappen and Leclerc were on the edge as they fought for every tiny bit of grip out of the corners. Lewis Hamilton was notably flying as he kept consistent at the top of the timing charts. Towards the end, it would be Leclerc and Verstappen fighting it out as both seemed to be able to best Hamilton’s sector times.
With 20 seconds to go, Verstappen backed off his flying lap and went for one last push as Leclerc was already on provisional pole. As Verstappen rounded the penultimate corner on his last flying lap, he was called into the pits by his team. The Dutchman vented out his frustration on the radio and was confused as to what was happening. Later it was confirmed that fuel concerns forced Red Bull to make the call to avoid getting scrutinized. The rules state that the car should have 1 liter of fuel left in the tank as it is sent as a sample for checking after the session.
Verstappen was clearly ahead of Leclerc on sector times as he came into the pits. A lap that could’ve got him on pole but it wasn’t to be for the Dutchman who will now start eighth in the race that would probably decide the outcome of the 2022 season and will get Max his second world title.
The question that remains is whether Charles Leclerc can convert his pole position into a victory tomorrow. A 61-lap race awaits on the streets of Singapore tomorrow.
Image credits: PlanetF1
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