Verstappen enjoys super Saturday in Singapore

CRUISING: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen during qualifying at Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore.

Max Verstappen completed a superb Saturday around Singapore’s shimmering streets as he backed up sprint victory with pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

The Dutchman, who claimed his first race win of the season in last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix held in Malaysia, continued to make strides forward in his improved Red Bull.

Verstappen was undone off the line in the sprint in damp conditions before George Russell crashed from the lead on lap one, the four-time world champion going on to complete a routine victory in the shortened dash.

Then, as he was 24 hours earlier, Verstappen was the class of the field in qualifying as he landed a first full Singapore pole.

Charles Leclerc was just 0.054 seconds off the pace, pipping team-mate Lewis Hamilton – who will line up third ahead of runaway title leader Kimi Antonelli and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

“Very happy to be on pole because this is the one that I wanted,” said Verstappen. “We have been on a positive trend so for us very special to take a pole here.” Russell’s crash continued the disintegration of his title challenge, six days on from an engine failure eliminating him in Malaysia.

He again was forced to abandon his Mercedes on track, this time after dipping a wheel on the white lines after a pre-race downpour resulted in a slippery surface, his car careering into the barriers before drifting back across the track.

As the 28-year-old thumped his car and exited the scene, apologising to his team for what he later called a “silly mistake”, his already slender hopes of chasing down team-mate Antonelli in the standings may well have gone with him.

The Italian was sluggish again in the sprint – amid struggles with his upgraded Mercedes – but was gifted two late positions to finish fourth after McLaren pair Norris and Oscar Piastri collided.

That allowed him to stretch his title advantage over Russell to 88 points with just 175 left to fight for.

Hamilton showed his wet-weather prowess by soaring from sixth to third on the sprint grid before coming home second for Ferrari.

With girlfriend Kim Kardashian in the Singapore paddock, Hamilton toasted a “mega start” as he relished the challenge of navigating the daunting surface in the damp.

As the lights came on around the city’s streets, attention turned to qualifying for Sunday’s main event.

In a further blow to Russell’s ailing chances, the British driver knew he would be starting it from the back of the grid after taking an engine penalty.

Hamilton topped the first two sessions of qualifying as the seven-time world champion raised hope of a first full pole position in over three years.

But Verstappen claimed the edge during the first run of Q3 and the Dutchman could not be toppled as Leclerc was the only driver to improve but fell just short.

Hamilton said: “Another difficult Q3, the car was feeling so much better. I felt like she had more in her. Finding that sweet spot is very, very difficult.

“It is a really good result for us, we can hopefully work as a team tomorrow to hold on to Max and put them (Red Bull) under pressure. Who knows, we will see if we can get ahead of him.” Russell qualified sixth before his penalty is applied.

PA