Who takes F1 Sprint pole at the Singapore Grand Prix?

A critical qualifying session lies ahead this Friday at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Qualifying for the F1 Sprint race that comes later this weekend.

The tight and narrow Marina Bay Street Circuit is one of Formula 1’s more punishing tracks, both in terms of what the heat, humidity, and layout does to the drivers inside the cars, as well as what the layout means for overtaking during races. That comes at a premium, meaning the better you do in qualifying, the better chance you have at bringing home points in the race.

And with the F1 season winding down, every point matters in the chase for both the F1 Drivers’ Championship, and the F1 Constructors’ Championship.

F1 Sprint qualifying gets away at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Friday morning, and we will be following it here live as well as on the brand-new SB Nation app. So check back early and often!

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F1 Sprint provisional grid

Here is the provisional grid for the F1 Sprint race at the Singapore Grand Prix, which will be filled in throughout the qualifying session:

F1 sprint qualifying as it happened

Here is how the qualifying session unfolded. All updates are in Eastern time.

SQ3

9:41: Of course, the stewards might have something to say about Verstappen potentially overtaking Hamilton under a yellow …

9:38: It’s Verstappen ahead of Russell. What a front row.

9:36: Verstappen up on Leclerc through the first two sectors.

9:36: Verstappen with a stunning first sector. Purple in five of the eight minisectors.

9:35: Hamilton slots into third. Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, and Piastri the top four right now. Verstappen and Hadjar yet to set times.

9:33: Leclerc goes P1 with a 1:31.568, and you can hear the roar from the crowd.

9:32: 1:31.587 from Norris is the new benchmark, with Piastri just behind him in P2. Russell slots in third and Antonelli fourth.

9:30: SQ3 is underway. Norris, Russell, Piastri, Antonelli, and Leclerc are already out on the track.

9:24: Leclerc, Hamilton, Norris, Russell, Verstappen, Hadjar, Antonelli, Piastri, Lawson, and Gasly are the ten drivers through to SQ3, in that order.

SQ2

9:23: Russell gets through in P4. That was close. Colapinto, Hülkenberg, Bearman, Bortoleto, Alonso, and Ocon are out at the end of SQ2.

9:21: Hadjar comes across with a 1:32.947, which drops Russell to P9.

9:20: Russell could be in a bit of trouble here. He stayed out to try another push as he’s down in P8, but how good will that right-front tire be over another lap?

9:18: Russell bails out of a push lap, and he is down in P8. He flatspots the right-front tire at Turn 13.

9:17: Hamilton rockets to the top with a 1:32.562, Leclerc then pips him with a 1:32.457.

9:16: Verstappen, Antonelli, Russell, Hulkenberg, and Ocon an early top five in SQ2.

9:12: SQ2 is underway with the clock ticking down from ten minutes.

9:03: SQ2 will be delayed due to an issue with the timing system. “We are investigating whether we can proceed with the rest of the session,” is the word from race officials.

8:56: Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Hadjar, Norris, Piastri, Antonelli, Gasly, Bortoleto, Lawson, Bearman, Alonso, Ocon, and Colapinto are the drivers through to SQ2, in that order.

SQ1

8:58: Check that, Bortoleto gets through. Lindblad, Stroll, Albon, Pérez, Bottas, and Sainz are the six out.

8:55: Verstappen, Ocon, and Hadjar get through. Stroll, Bortoleto, Albon, Bottas, Sainz, and Pérez are the six drivers eliminated at the end of SQ1.

8:53: We are under a minute to go and Verstappen, Ocon, and Hadjar have yet to set representative times. One shot for each.

8:52: Norris gets to third, but Piastri bails out of his push lap and has one shot at a good lap.

8:50: Lap times are coming in, Hamilton leads the way followed by Leclerc, Russell, Hulkenberg and Antonelli.

8:48: SQ1 has resumed and there are under five minutes left in the segment.

8:43: According to race officials the session will resume at 20:46 local time. Cars are roaring out onto the pit lane.

8:41: And it looks like Verstappen completed an overtake on Hamilton under yellow. The Red Bull driver tried to slow and radioed that he would give the place back, a sign that he knew something was wrong, but this looks like an eventual penalty for Verstappen.

8:40: Only five drivers have set a representative time here in SQ1: Hamilton, Gasly, Alonso, Colapinto, and Stroll. Pérez, Leclerc, Bottas, Russell, Antonelli, Albon, Bortoleto, Hulkenberg, and Sainz set times on out laps, but nowhere near representative.

No one else has set a time.

8:38: The red flag is out with 6:09 remaining in SQ1. This will set up a frenetic finish to the first segment of Sprint qualifying.

8:37: And now a red to deal with the debris on the racing line, right into Turn 8.

8:36: Pérez managed to get going again, but his front wing is severely damaged and he is laboring around the track as a yellow remains out.

8:35: Pérez has hit the wall at Turn 5 and a yellow flag is out.

8:30: SQ1 is just about to begin. Lewis Hamilton is among the drivers queuing up at the end of pit lane.

What happened in FP1?

With this being an F1 Sprint weekend, teams and drivers have just the one single hour of practice to prepare for the first qualifying session of the weekend.

George Russell topped the timing sheets during that hour, just ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris. While Russell is facing a grid drop to the back of the field due to changing out components on his W17 — in excess of the allowed number per season — that applies only to the Grand Prix, meaning Russell could secure pole position and win the F1 Sprint, banking eight critical points as he tries to minimize the damage.

Will he?

We will find out soon enough.