Key events
A minute’s silence is observed for the victims of the Morocco earthquake and the floods in Libya. Impeccably so. (It was also good to see those tragic events observed at yesterday’s football matches)
“It’s so hot here,” says Alex Albon to Martin Brundle on the latter’s grid stroll. “I’m more used to it than some, but it’s still muggy.”
He grabs Verstappen, who admits: “We need a bit of luck throughout the race to pass cars, because you need a big space here. We’ll see, it’s a long race but we’ll see what happens I think we’re lacking a bit.”
Young Liam Lawson is in good spirits: “It was a good session yesterday but today’s the important one. It’s a very long race. I’m as ready as I can be.”
Verstappen was not a happy bunny with his car’s handling after qualifying yesterday: “I don’t know if you saw that, but that was shocking, absolutely shocking experience,” he harrumphed.
Giles Richards’s report on qualifying has more:
Talk among the Sky Sports commentariat about the slowness of the track and a general view that, even with a longer straight added to the circuit, overtaking will remain tricky. A challenge for Max under the street lights, time in Singapore currently being 7.17pm …
How they line up on the grid
Your runners and riders …
1 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
2 George Russell (Mercedes)
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4 Lando Norris (McLaren)
5 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
6 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
7 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
8 Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
9 Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
10 Liam Lawson (Alpha Tauri)
11 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
12 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
13 Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
14 Alexander Albon (Williams)
15 Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri)
16 Valtteri Bottas ((Alfa Romeo)
17 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) MCLAREN MERCEDES1:32.9029182
18 Logan Sargeant (Williams)
19 Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)
Preamble
Afternoon everyone, and welcome to what could be a rare collector’s item – a grand prix not won by Max Verstappen or Red Bull. The world champion and his teammate, Sergio Pérez, start way back in 11th and 13th respectively after all manner of engine dissatisfaction yesterday as they failed to put a car into Q3. On a tight street circuit such as Marina Bay, at which the safety car is usually deployed at some point, hauling his way to the front could be a task beyond even Verstappen – though Fernando Alonso won from 15th here in 2008.
But it gives the others a chance, prime among them Carlos Sainz. The Ferrari driver sits in pole for the second race in a row and comes into today’s race on the back of a fine, tenacious drive for third place in Monza a fortnight ago, while George Russell in second leads British podium hopes, with Lando Norris (fourth) and Lewis Hamilton (fifth) in the mix.
Some disappointing news overnight though: Lance Stroll is out of the race following his high-impact crash in qualifying. It was initially hoped the Canadian might be able to compete after he was passed fit at trackside but he continued to suffer some after-effects overnight, so Stroll and Aston Martin have agreed to sit it out.
Lights out: 1pm BST
