Carlos Sainz On Singapore GP Pole After Verstappen's 'Shocking' Qualifying

Carlos Sainz took pole position for Ferrari on Saturday for the Singapore Grand Prix, but championship leader Max Verstappen will start from the back half of the grid after a "shocking" qualifying session Verstappen was eliminated in Q2 after finishing 11th fastest in an "undriveable" Red Bull and then escaped penalties that could have demoted him to last place. Verstappen faced stewards late on Saturday after being accused of impeding cars in the pit lane and twice more on the track as he tried to create a gap for his qualifying laps.

The stewards cleared the driver of one offence and issued reprimands each for the other two, meaning Verstappen retains his place on the sixth row. "I knew it would always be tough to put it on pole. But this I didn't expect," Verstappen told reporters after both Red Bulls were eliminated in Q2 for the first time since the Russian Grand Prix in 2018.

"Throughout the weekend we have been struggling. We tried a few more things on the car for qualifying and that tipped it over where it became undriveable again," he added.

Sainz's lap of 1min 30.984sec pipped the Mercedes of George Russell by 0.072sec and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who was third, 0.007sec further back.

Sainz will start from pole for the second consecutive grand prix after also being fastest in Italy two weeks ago. "A bit like Monza really, we hit the ground running in FP1. I felt very confident all through the sessions and put it together in Q3," said Sainz, who also topped the time sheets in Saturday's third free practice session.

"I just focused on not doing any mistakes on that lap. Keeping it clean in Singapore normally pays off."

Verstappen has won the last 10 races in a row and has a 145-point lead over Sergio