RACE DEBRIEF

    Saturday in Singapore provided one of the season’s most extraordinary qualifying sessions, with neither Red Bull making the Q3 cut and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz edging out the Mercedes of George Russell to take his second consecutive pole position.

    With less than a tenth of a second covering the top three, Charles Leclerc heads the second row in the sister Ferrari, alongside the McLaren of Lando Norris. Lewis Hamilton starts fifth for Mercedes, followed by Kevin Magnussen in a spectacular sixth place for Haas.

    REPORT: Sainz pips Russell and Leclerc in ultra-tight qualifying battle in Singapore after shock double Q2 exit for Red Bull

    Another standout performance was from Daniel Ricciardo stand-in Liam Lawson, who put his AlphaTauri tenth – and immediately ahead of world champion Max Verstappen. In the second Red Bull, Sergio Perez starts 13th.

    Moving to the rear of the grid, Zhou Guanyu will start from the pit lane – rather than his P19 qualifying position – after changes were made to his Alfa Romeo car. Finally, Aston Martin have chosen to withdraw Lance Stroll from the race after his heavy crash at the end of Q1 on Saturday.

    FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX 2023

    Singapore 2023

    Starting Grid

    POSITION TIME
    1 Carlos Sainz SAI Ferrari 1:30.984
    2 George Russell RUS Mercedes 1:31.056
    3 Charles Leclerc LEC Ferrari 1:31.063
    4 Lando Norris NOR McLaren 1:31.270
    5 Lewis Hamilton HAM Mercedes 1:31.485
    6 Kevin Magnussen MAG Haas F1 Team 1:31.575
    7 Fernando Alonso ALO Aston Martin 1:31.615
    8 Esteban Ocon OCO Alpine 1:31.673
    9 Nico Hulkenberg HUL Haas F1 Team 1:31.808
    10 Liam Lawson LAW AlphaTauri 1:32.268

    The 2023 Singapore Grand Prix starts at 2000 local time. Be sure to join our live coverage from 1900 here.