Sainz pips Russell to Singapore pole as Red Bull suffer shocker

Ferrari’s Sainz pipped Russell by just 0.072s in a thrilling conclusion to Q3 as only 0.079s split a super tight top-three, with Charles Leclerc missing out in third. 

• F1 Singapore Grand Prix 2023 - Qualifying Results

But the story of qualifying was a shock meltdown for Red Bull, with both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez struggling for pace in their RB19 as they were knocked out in Q2. 

It means at best Verstappen will line-up from 11th with his teammate down in 13th, but the reigning world champion could yet pick up penalties for three separate impeding incidents he is under investigation for. 

Lando Norris qualified a brilliant fourth in his heavily-upgraded McLaren, ahead of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who was half a second adrift in his Mercedes. 

Kevin Magnussen took a strong sixth for Haas, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso seventh ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. 

Nico Hulkenberg was ninth as both Haas cars reached Q3, while AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson dumped Verstappen out of Q2 on his way to claiming an impressive 10th. 

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was slowest of all after suffering a massive crash at the final corner which caused the end of Q1 to be red-flagged.