Teams' reactions after qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP Singapore, Marina Bay Street Circuit

Having dominated the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, Lando Norris grabbed pole position for the 15th edition of the Singapore Grand Prix to secure his sixth F1 pole - his fifth this season.

Lando Norris, 1st, 1:29.525

"It was tough in Qualifying today, I was finding it difficult to go quicker and it put me under a little bit of pressure, especially with just one lap to get it right.

"The car felt good though, it’s been strong all weekend and when you have that, you're confident, you can go out and push to get the lap time you need. So, I did the job I had to do to thank the team for their hard work and I’m excited to see what we can do tomorrow."

Oscar Piastri, 5th, 1:29.953

"A pretty average end to Qualifying, unfortunately. The lap was looking good until the last sector, and then I got a bit eager on the throttle and that was pretty much the end of the lap.

"It’s a shame, because the car was competitive. A frustrating way to end Qualifying, but we’ll put the work in tonight and aim to move forward in tomorrow’s race."

Max Verstappen, 2nd, 1:29.728

“I am very happy with second today and it is great to start the race on the front row tomorrow.

"Huge credit goes to the Team for all of their hard work; they came up with some great solutions and made a lot of changes to the car overnight and it made a huge difference. The car was a lot nicer to drive, we could attack the corners a bit more and we really maximised our performance today.

"I had a better feeling with the car and kept on improving it as yesterday was very tough. On paper, this is not a good track on the calendar for us, and we do have our limitations on the pace, so this gives us a lot of hope in the coming races that we can do well. To come out and finish where we did today is an amazing result for qualifying."

Sergio Perez, 13th, 1:30.579

“It was a very tricky session, Q1 was very nice, the progression that we had with the tyres and the car, and everything was going in the right direction.

"The track was ramping up but Q2 all of a sudden it became quite difficult to nail the lap, I only found a tenth and we were struggling, mainly with the tyres and something was going on with the brakes for me. If anything, we went slower, we were lacking a lot of grip through the lap and not getting it in the right window. How we are using the tyres has been quite a difficult thing this weekend up to now, so we have plenty of understanding to do.

"We have come from quite a strong weekend in Baku and then we seem to struggle quite a lot here. Unfortunately, we are out in Q2, it hasn’t been a straightforward weekend, I think we lost some potential from yesterday, so we have plenty of stuff to analyse. Overtaking around here is very tricky, we have a long night ahead of us tomorrow."

Lewis Hamilton, 3rd, 1:29.841

"I’ve been working really hard to improve my qualifying performances and to get myself back up at the front on a Saturday. The car came alive today and we had one of our strongest Saturdays in a while. That was a great feeling. Having just one effort in Q3 after the red flag was tricky, and there was perhaps a little bit more left in the car, but overall, I am really grateful for what we achieved today.

"I also want to say a big thank you to everyone in the garage. We’ve been moving around on balance all weekend and they’ve put in a big shift to get the car into a good place. We are now starting from a solid place to fight for the podium tomorrow.

"We don’t know exactly where our race pace will be compared to others, but with the changes we made overnight, it felt like we had improved since Friday. We’ll be giving it everything on Sunday."

George Russell, 4th, 1:29.867

"If you had told us yesterday that we would qualify on the second row of the grid, we would have absolutely taken that. With the improvements we made overnight though, and how the car felt in FP3, I would have reconsidered. I was feeling super confident in the car, and everything was coming easily.

"That feeling deserted us in Q1 though and I would have bitten your hand off for P4. We were suffering from a lack of grip and were only just able to progress through each segment to Q3. I was able to put in a decent lap though once we were there and overall, we can’t be disappointed with where we have ended the day.

"We can ultimately see today as a good recovery. Yesterday, we were on course to be mired in the midfield and yet here we are with a second-row lock-out. We would love to be starting further forward but the team has done a great job to get us back on track so a big thank you to them. Hopefully we can go on the attack tomorrow and fight for the podium."

Charles Leclerc, 9th, No time set in Q3

"It was a disappointing qualifying for us. My front tyres were too cold when exiting the garage for Q3, so I had to push a lot more than usual on the out-lap to try and bring them up to the right temperature, but it was impossible. It’s a shame because this puts us on the back foot for the race, so we have to keep our expectations realistic, as to what might be possible."

Carlos Sainz, 10th, No time set in Q3

"A very strange qualifying session that obviously didn’t end well for us. Right before my push lap in Q3 I had to let a McLaren by, moving on to the dirty line, and then I quickly came back to push in the last corner. I misjudged the temperature of the tyres and the grip and lost the rear, hitting the wall. It’s a costly mistake from my side and I’m sorry for the team.

"The race is tomorrow and, even though it is going to be very difficult, Singapore is always a long race with opportunities along the way. We will try everything to gain some positions and bring home good points."

Nico Hulkenberg, 6th, 1:30.115

“I’m very happy, that was a solid qualifying from the team. They were clean laps and I had a good feeling and confidence in the car, which is crucial around here and on street circuits in general, and something I was missing a bit last week.

"I’m happy, we didn’t leave much out there and we maximised the session. I think we were the fifth fastest team out there today. We have a big job ahead tomorrow and we need to close it out; we need to stay focused and bring it home.”

Kevin Magnussen, 14th, 1:30.653

“It was very marginal even though P14 doesn’t look great. There’s so little in it that we could’ve been in Q3, so we were just on the wrong end of those margins.

"The car is in a good place and Nico had amazing pace in quali, so I have faith we can move forward tomorrow, and we can have a good day. In the first few runs, I felt more competitive but other people picked up more pace than I did, and I probably reached my maximum with the car.”

Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso, 7th, 1:30.214

"I am very happy with seventh position and the performance tonight in Qualifying. We've struggled with the weaknesses of the car here and we've put in a lot of hard work to try and improve things. Heading into Qualifying we were a bit pessimistic as our pace didn't look too promising in FP3.

"We managed to put the laps together though and thanks to a few cars not completing their laps in Q3 we ended up a bit higher than what our true pace is. We'll take it but we know that the points are scored tomorrow, so we need to complete the job and score some good points."

Lance Stroll, 17th, 1:31.094

"It's been a tricky weekend in Singapore so far. We've been struggling with balance and grip but just haven't managed to get on top of it. The field is so tight, so you need a car that you have the confidence to push in. It's tough to pass around here, but we'll see what we can do in the race tomorrow and hope for some opportunities."

Daniel Ricciardo, 16th, 1:31.085

"Today wasn't good. We really struggled on the softs, every set we used today, we weren't competitive. Our pace was good yesterday, which is why we didn't change much on the car overnight. In FP3, we performed well on the medium.

"However, it was a lot harder for us to get the most out of the soft tyre, and we didn't find a solution in qualifying. There was only a tenth between us and Q2, but we expected more based on yesterday's practice."

Yuki Tsunoda, 8th, 1:30.354

"It's been a while since we were in Q3, and today finally we made it! We were waiting for this moment, so well done and thanks to the Team. Obviously, as a driver, you're always aiming for a perfect qualifying, and unfortunately, the last run was a bit messy.

"We were tight on time during the warm-up lap, so we had to rush, which compromised our last push lap a bit. Initially, I was a bit frustrated when I crossed the finish line, but considering our performance in the last few races, this is a big achievement for us.

"It won't be easy tomorrow, we'll try to catch the Haas in front of us but at the same time, we'll have to look at some fast cars behind us. We'll do as much as we can to try and score points."

Alex Albon, 11th, 1:30.474

"The car was definitely quicker than P11 today, so of course I’m disappointed. We’ve got a balance issue in the car this weekend and we’ve been trying to improve it, but we’ve not found anything to fix it, so when it’s not there, we’re quick but unfortunately when it is, we’re struggling and that’s what happened in Qualifying.

"We’re also dealing with rear overheating of the tyres quite early in the lap, making it difficult to predict, so it’s not ideal. Whilst it was tricky out there today, I’ll still be fighting in the battle for points tomorrow, so let’s see how we go."

Franco Colapinto, 12th, 1:30.481

"I’m a bit frustrated as I can easily look back on my lap and find time that would’ve got me into Q3, but it was still a good Qualifying session. We were hoping for a little bit more today and we were capable of doing that.

"Unfortunately, I made some little mistakes which cost me the chance to progress. There are things to review and improve on, but it was still a decent day. The car is in a good window, so we need to keep working towards the race tomorrow to try to get the best result possible."

Esteban Ocon, 15th, 1:30.769

"I was happier with the car in Qualifying, it felt better this evening and we took a step forward in terms of pace from Free Practice 3, particularly in Q1. The pace seemed to drop off a little in Q2 and we were not able to extract much more to be closer to Q3.

"A mixed result in the end. I’m glad we could improve a little bit, but we are still far away from where we want to be. We’ll debrief to understand what happened between Q1 and Q2 and will aim to bring the fight tomorrow to progress up the field."

Pierre Gasly, 18th, 1:31.312

"It’s a disappointing Qualifying performance where we have a lot of things to understand. I just felt like I had no grip and poor traction and the car really felt much worse than it did earlier in the day. We did not improve things and I basically matched my lap time between Free Practice 3 to Qualifying where it should be much quicker.

"It’s confusing at the moment, we are certainly scratching our heads and we will work hard together to figure out this deficit. It’s always a tough race physically here. We will just aim to be in the mix tomorrow, see what happens and push to the very end."

Valtteri Bottas, 19th, 1:31.572

“As the results show, it’s been a tough qualifying session. We tried to extract every bit of performance we could this weekend so far but, ultimately, it just wasn’t enough. This track really exposed some of our weaknesses, particularly in single-lap pace.

"We’re hoping for a stronger showing tomorrow, but regardless, we’ll aim to optimise everything and push for the best possible result. We’ll keep fighting hard before the mini break, when we can regroup and focus on improving for the future.”

Zhou Guanyu, 20th, 1:32.054

“We were expecting to experience a tough qualifying session, and seeing how far we are from Q2 confirms that it was always going to be a challenge. Making the cut wasn’t realistic today, as we’ve been lacking overall performance; most surprising, though, was that it was very difficult to find a balance that would allow us to push fully, compared to what we experienced yesterday.

"We now focus on working together as a team and making improvements where we can. Our attention shifts fully to the race, where anything can happen, and we’ll give it our all. Hopefully we can be a bit more competitive in the race and mix it up with the rest of the pack, as we were able to do last week in Baku.”