Verstappen takes first Singapore GP pole after Sprint win as McLaren’s projected nine points fall to one

Max Verstappen won Saturday’s rain-hit Singapore Sprint before taking his first pole for the Grand Prix. McLaren’s final lap brought a sharp reversal: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had been heading for fourth and fifth before their collision turned the team’s projected nine-point Sprint haul into one.

Verstappen’s pole was narrow. Charles Leclerc was 0.054 seconds behind, and Lewis Hamilton qualified third. Three podiums in Italy, Spain and Azerbaijan preceded his first win of the season last weekend. The BBC linked his upturn to Red Bull’s steady work on the car and reported that Verstappen felt able to predict its behaviour and push it to the limit.

Verstappen was 129 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli, with 175 still available if Qatar and Abu Dhabi went ahead. The BBC judged a title comeback realistically out of reach: Verstappen would need a sustained run of wins and Antonelli a highly unlikely spell of poor form and bad luck, but still saw Verstappen as a contender at the front for the rest of the season.

On the final lap, Norris tried to pass Piastri at Turn 5. The McLarens made contact and spun; Norris dropped to eighth, while Piastri failed to complete the lap but was classified 14th. The pair had been heading for fourth and fifth, so the collision cut McLaren’s projected Sprint return from nine points to one. The BBC’s tactical assessment was that an earlier move might have let Norris challenge Leclerc for third, whereas a last-lap pass on Piastri would not have left a realistic chance to attack the Ferrari.

Norris apologised afterwards, saying he still considered the collision his fault while maintaining that he believed he had the right to attempt the pass. The stewards took no further action, concluding that both drivers contributed but neither was wholly or predominantly to blame.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella called the collision unacceptable and said the damage to the team was material. He said the drivers had been reminded that the team’s interests must come first, and that McLaren discusses such incidents constructively and takes lessons from them. Stella said the team’s ambition was to challenge Ferrari for second and finish ahead of Red Bull. Before the Grand Prix, McLaren was third in the constructors’ championship, 11 points ahead of Red Bull.