Verstappen’s winning run in F1 is in doubt after qualifying 11th in Singapore with Sainz on pole

SINGAPORE: Max Verstappen’s historic run of 10 Formula One wins in a row looks set to end after he qualified down in 11th place on Saturday for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz Jr. took pole for the race for Ferrari on Sunday ahead of George Russell of Mercedes and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc as Verstappen’s Red Bull team had its worst qualifying results of the season.
“It’s the best opportunity since the beginning of the season, for sure” for other teams to stop a Red Bull sweep of winning every race in 2023, Leclerc said.
Verstappen, the runaway championship leader after his record-breaking 10th straight win at the Italian Grand Prix, was eliminated by .007 seconds in the second session by rookie Liam Lawson of sister team AlphaTauri.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was 13th after a spin.

The two drivers have won every race this season between them.
Verstappen told his team over the radio that it was an “absolutely shocking experience.”
He later added: “It is of course very hard to pass in Singapore on the street circuit so I’m not expecting a lot tomorrow. We’ve had so many successful weekends this year, we can be proud of what we have achieved so far.

It’s more important that we understand where we are going wrong this weekend.”
Verstappen has won races this season from sixth on the grid in Belgium and ninth in Miami, but the Red Bull car performed better on those tracks than it has so far in Singapore. He and Perez — who called qualifying a “complete disaster” — have repeatedly said the car feels unbalanced in the many slow corners in Singapore.
Verstappen avoided a grid penalty despite being under investigation in three cases of allegedly impeding other drivers.