9 October 2026, Singapore - Max Verstappen made history for himself and for Singapore when he claimed pole position for Saturday’s Formula 1 Sprint race on a weekend where he will start his 250^th Grand Prix.

The 29-year-old Dutchman has never previously started from pole at Marina Bay, but Singapore’s first-ever Sprint race was the ideal showcase for the Red Bull driver’s recent run of imperious form.

Switching from Pirelli’s Medium compound to the Soft for the final segment of Sprint Qualifying, Verstappen’s best lap of 1 minute 31.156 seconds, an average speed of 194.580 km/h, was set in the dying moments of a thrilling contest, leaving him 0.120s faster than George Russell’s Mercedes, with Charles Leclerc third-fastest for Ferrari.

“It’s always close here in Singapore,” said Verstappen. “But once we bolted on the Soft tyres it felt as if the car was coming alive a bit more. Being in the cockpit here is just like a sauna,” he added, “and trying to do some exercise in it! That’s also what’s quite unique about this place - and we love it as well.”

This is also Max’s first Sprint pole of the 2026 season, though the stewards cast a shadow over it by saying they would investigate Verstappen for overtaking Hamilton during the Yellow Flag period and subsequent Red Flag - triggered by Sergio Perez’s Cadillac shedding debris on the track in the first minutes of the session.

Russell, who will start from the back in Sunday’s Grand Prix because of engine-related penalties, set that disappointment aside to run Verstappen close and beat team-mate Kimi Antonelli by four grid places. “We’ve been competitive all day,” said Russell, who has won three of the five previous Sprints this season. Asked about the upgrades Mercedes has recently introduced, he added: “The sport is driven by the stopwatch and so far, the stopwatch hasn’t been great.”

Antonelli agreed: “In FP1 I was struggling,” the 20-year-old Italian admitted. “The car is very unpredictable, it’s very difficult to put a lap together. It’s a shame, because I was coming with high hopes, but so far, it’s been very difficult.”

A comfortable 84 points clear in the title race, Antonelli had a less-than-comfortable evening as his team switched front wings between sessions in a bid to extract more pace from his car. After finishing almost half a second slower than Russell, he was pessimistic about his chances in the 21-lap Sprint: “I don’t see where we can find so much time,” he said.

McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were fourth and fifth ahead of multiple Singapore winner Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari, while Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls will start from eighth on the grid for a Sprint which sees the top eight finishers score points.

Behind him, Isack Hadjar overcame his Red Bull’s tendency to bottom out and finished ninth, while Alpine’s Pierre Gasly survived a slight brush against the wall in Pit Lane to round out the top ten.

There was a break in proceedings after SQ1 when a telemetry glitch wrongly listed some drivers’ times and positions. Racing Bulls’ other driver, Arvid Lindblad, the only rookie in this year’s Singapore event, was unfortunate to end up 17^th after the restart left more than half the field scrambling to post fast times.

“I had a bit of a moment braking for Turn 13,” explained the 19-year-old who is also the youngest man in the field. “I wouldn’t call it a mistake - I was forced to push, and it is what it is.”

Earlier, the day’s opening hour of practice had extra meaning: in the sole practice session before Sprint Qualifying, Russell topped the times with a 1:32.274 on Soft tyres, 1.158s slower than the best time in this session in 2025.

Russell, running a different set-up from Antonelli, finished ahead of Leclerc and Norris; most of the hour was spent on Hard tyres as many teams husbanded Mediums and Softs for the crucial sessions to come.

Nico Hülkenberg caught the eye, as did his Audi’s sky-blue livery: the veteran German suffered a gearbox problem on the finishing straight and had to pull into Pit Lane, while Antonelli ended the hour on a low note by missing his braking-point at Turn 16, avoiding contact with any walls.

In the day’s other track action Marcus Amand, who began the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season with five wins spread across rounds 2-5, set out his stall for Sunday’s final race of the series by topping Free Practice on 2:02.698, an average speed of 144.559 km/h. The 20-year-old Franco-Finnish driver goes into the weekend just 3.5 points adrift of fast-finishing Kiwi Marco Giltrap, who was fourth.

Beyond the action on track, the Barge Stage made a spectacular debut in Zone 1 of the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The 17^th edition of the night race drew 20,000 spectators for performances by Split Enz, DJ Snake, Major Lazer Sound System and more against a spectacular waterfront backdrop.

The entertainment continued at the Padang Stage in Zone 4, where JJ Lin and CORTIS performed to a 55,000-strong crowd. JJ Lin also welcomed Singaporean singer-songwriter Jasmine Sokko as a surprise guest on stage.