After a season of utter domination for Max Verstappen and Red Bull, when the wheels finally came off the juggernaut in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix it was to striking effect, prompting equal measures of fury and consternation.
Carlos Sainz claimed pole at the Marina Bay circuit for Ferrari with a mighty lap between the walls, the Spaniard well and truly hooked up for his second pole in a row. Verstappen and Red Bull, in contrast, were flailing, impotent with a recalcitrant car lacking the balance and grip that has defined it as the class of the field this season.
Verstappen finished in 11th, while his teammate, Sergio Pérez, who was equally at sea, spun out managing 13th. It is the first time since the Russian GP in 2018 that Red Bull has not put a car into Q3, a failure all the more significant given their utter dominance this season. They are unbeaten in 14 races but face a herculean task to maintain that run on Sunday, the Red Bull stranglehold surely set to be broken.
Verstappen has struggled all weekend, unhappy with the balance of his car and unusually lacking rear grip, which made it a handful to drive. He was furious with its performance in qualifying.
“I don’t know if you saw that, but that was shocking, absolutely shocking experience,” he told the team after his final lap resulted in him being knocked out in Q2.
He was beaten out of the top 10 by Liam Lawson, a rookie in his third F1 race sitting in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri. An ignominy that will doubtless test the Dutch driver’s temper further.
Verstappen has won the past 10 races, a record, while Red Bull are undefeated all season. An unprecedented clean sweep of wins was a real possibility but both runs are set to end here. With overtaking difficult Verstappen acknowledged a victory was out of the question. “For sure not,” he said. “It’s like Monaco, you put it all into qualifying so it will be a long, tough afternoon.”
He also conceded that the team were at a loss as to where the performance had gone. “I knew it would be tough to put it on pole but this I did not expect,” the world champion said. “We tried a few things on the car for qualifying and that tipped it over and the car became undriveable.”
It may have been even worse. He was investigated after the session for three separate incidents of impeding but was cleared of one offence and given a reprimand for the other two. Verstappen said it mattered little whether he started 11th, 15th or 20th but a grid penalty would have been a galling finale to an already disastrous day.
Red Bull have been clear their streak could not continue for ever but that it should fall with a whimper rather than a bang will be enormously frustrating. However, what looks set to be a tight battle at the front does present a fine prospect for the neutral.
There was little to separate the top three and the final runs with the track rubbering-in were enormously tight between Lando Norris, Sainz, his teammate, Charles Leclerc, and Mercedes’ George Russell who was immense on his last lap. Sainz had the edge, finding the extra in the final sector. He finished with a time of 1min 30.984sec but was seven-hundredths clear of Russell and Leclerc. For the first time this season the top step will surely belong to one of them.
Sainz, who has shown great pace all weekend, will be optimistic this is his best shot at a win this year but for all Verstappen’s travails the championship remains all but in his hands. He leads by 145 points from Pérez and if he outscores the Mexican by nine points could still win the title as soon as the next round in Japan.
McLaren’s Norris was fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth for Mercedes. Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg were in sixth and ninth for Haas, Fernando Alonso in seventh for Aston Martin, Esteban Ocon eighth for Alpine and Lawson in 10th.
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The first session was red-flagged in the final moments when Lance Stroll lost the rear on the kerbs at the final corner and took a major impact in the wall. He was unhurt but the session was ended to deal with the debris. The Aston Martin driver finished in 20th. Repairs to the barrier and cleaning the track led to a considerable delay of 34 minutes before Q2 was able to commence.
Pierre Gasly was 12th for Alpine, Alex Albon 14th for Williams and Yuki Tsunoda 15th for AlphaTauri. Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were in 16th and 19th for Alfa Romeo, Oscar Piastri in 17th for McLaren and Logan Sargeant in 18th for Williams.
