Norris, pole in Singapore but Verstappen makes his day bitter with another Alonso exhibition

This time yes. Landau Norris did not fail and, at the wheel of the best car on the grid by far the street circuit of Marina Baycrushed his rivals to achieve pole position in F1 Singapore GP.

He did this at a time of maximum pressure. After a red flag caused by a Carlos Sainz had an accident in Q3 (he starts on the 10th), the tension is immense within the walls of Singapore. Lando Norris, despite showing himself superior throughout the weekend and throughout the classification, saw how he had only one attempt to confirm his position and achieve the pole. He could not allow a mistake, while his teammate Piastri was lucky enough to be the only one capable of setting a time with HÜlkenberg before stopping the session.

McLaren opted to put Piastri on track first to set up his second chance. And then comes Lando Norris. In a McLaren that has shown itself to be very strong, the pole seems to be between the two teammates. And there, Lando Norris made no mistake. But things changed drastically from what was planned. After how much he struggled Max Verstappen on Friday, the Dutchman reappeared to achieve a good time that put him in second position, when no one expected it, having been great at the most decisive moment. The champion got up again and passed Piastri, which in turn saw the two Mercedes take two positions from him.

So, Norris will start from pole this Sunday alongside his biggest rival for the title, current World Championship leader Max Verstappen.with a second final for the Mercedes of Hamilton (3rd at 0″316) and Russell (4th at 0″342). AND Piastri, who was aiming for second place, dropped to 5th 0″428 ahead of Hülkenberg (6th), an Alonso who again performed the miracle of Q3 and increased his options to be 7th (at 0″689)with Tsunoda 8th at 0″829 ahead of Leclerc (9th) and Sainz (10th).

This time, Norris followed suit, but when he didn’t fail, luck wasn’t with him: He finds that Max did the same against all odds.

It was the sixth pole of Norris’ F1 career, the fifth for him this season, but in all the previous 5, he was only able to convert the achievement in the Netherlands, at the home of Max, into a victory. And in Singapore, at the wheel of a McLaren riding the track and flying between the walls with incredible stability, Lando had to go for the win to keep the pressure on Verstappen. But beware: Max always comes out better than her when they both meet in the front row.

The Dutchman should suffer more in the race and we will have to see if he can hold his own against other rivals. But in that second position, The leader of the World Cup ensures good options to reduce the losses that a day before seemed huge in Singapore.

With 7 races remaining, Lando is 59 points away, but Max can be stronger between the walls to maintain a good cushion.

By now, Norris knew how to bounce back from what happened just a week ago in Baku and didn’t hesitate for a moment. His car, the superior, helped. And he finished with a perfect drive, well ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri, who, although he shows signs of being able to reach a higher level than Norris in the future, made it clear in his performance that he still needs to learn and must increase his perseverance in qualifying, as Piastri himself made clear a few days ago, in his second F1 campaign.

Ferrari dilutes and Sainz accident

The big negative surprise on Saturday was Ferrari. They marked this race in red on the calendar because they dominated a mousey track like Monaco. And on Friday they were at the McLaren match. But this Saturday, the red car was inexplicably diluted and Ferrari was never in a position to challenge Norris for pole position.

For Carlos Sainz it was a disaster. The Spaniard wanted to repeat his success last year in Singapore, at a circuit he likes, but when he pulled away to let Piastri pass midway through Q3, he lost tire temperature and acceleration, when he had to change the wheel . . He lost his car and leaned against the wall. AND It didn’t get any better for Leclerc, who would start 9th having not set a time in Q3.

Alonso does it again: another master class

Unbelievable. In a car placed by F1 as the 8th car out of 10 in one-lap speed, Fernando Alonso has once again achieved something that Aston Martin thought was almost impossible: getting into Q3. He has already done it at Zandvoort. He held it at Monza. He repeated in Baku and a week later, in Singapore, he did it again. Not only did he get the Top-10, but he did well in the moment of greatest tension, after the red flag of Sainz’s accident.

He got one place with Carlos falling, another because Leclerc didn’t set a time and another with Tsunoda with a superior car who didn’t take advantage of it.

Alonso thrives on rivals’ mistakes, making the most of any situation, fishing in turbulent waters. He did this again to finish the 7th, Totally unrealistic position for your car in Singapore.

Fernando Alonso got into Q3 with a final spin in Q2, in the decisive moments, to put his three best sectors at the moment the steering wheel was on fire. He managed to get into the Top-7 with a car where his teammate Stroll fell in Q1 with the 17th best time. That’s normal. The inexplicable thing is Alonso, who once again maximized everything and took advantage of the fact that Williams did not make it to the rubber preparation for the last lap of Q2, and then, scratching three more places in Q3.

Alonso passed the Q2 cut in 10th place, two tenths behind a RB who was on another planet at this track, beating Albon by just 24 thousandths and Colapinto by 31 thousandths. And also, he took advantage of the poor classification of Pérez, who was 14th in a Red Bull. When a person does magic 4 times in a row, it stops being an illusion. This is truth. It is perfection. Work, quality and perform at your best when you need to. It’s simple, Alonso.