Verstappen controversially won qualifying for the sprint at the Singapore Grand Prix

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen secured pole position for the sprint at the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix. Despite a dramatic incident involving a possible rules violation under yellow flags, the stewards decided not to penalize the Dutch driver. This was reported by UNN, citing Formula 1. 

"Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the sprint in Singapore, beating Mercedes' George Russell and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in a tense session under the floodlights at the Marina Bay Street Circuit," the report said. 

Verstappen timed his final lap perfectly, surpassing the times of each of his rivals and finishing the session with a time of 1 min 31.156 sec.

His lap on soft tires allowed him to beat Russell by 0.120 sec, while Leclerc was another tenth of a second behind and took third place. 

Franco Colapinto of Alpine finished 11th after Russell pushed him out of the top ten on the final lap, while Nico Hülkenberg of Audi took 12th place.

However, it should be noted that the session was preceded by controversy. During the first qualifying session (SQ1), single yellow flags were displayed after Sergio Perez of Cadillac crashed into the barrier, and Verstappen subsequently appeared to overtake Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari, prompting Hamilton to report over the radio: "Max overtook me under yellow flags."

Verstappen commented: "I will let Lewis through again. I think I overtook him before the yellow flags appeared, but I just want to be on the safe side."

A document published after the stewards' hearing into the incident explained: "When Car No. 3 (Verstappen) was exiting Turn 7 on a fast lap, a single yellow flag was shown. Car No. 44 (Hamilton) was ahead of Car No. 3 and was warned of the approach of Car No. 3."

The stewards considered that Verstappen had "reacted appropriately to the yellow flag" and acknowledged that, although he had breached the rules, it was an "unfortunate consequence of a significant difference in approach speeds."

F-1: Singapore Grand Prix — sprint history, race schedule07.10.26, 15:25 • 35225 views