Norris on Singapore pole with Verstappen alongside

Lando Norris outpaced title rival Max Verstappen to take pole position in a dramatic qualifying session for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Norris was 0.203 seconds quicker than Verstappen, with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in third and fourth place.

His times came in a one-lap session after Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz forced the session to be stopped with an accident early in his first flying lap.

Norris comes into Sunday’s race looking to reduce Verstappen’s 59-point championship lead.

But Verstappen will be pleased with a strong showing at a track where Red Bull struggled last season and was hoping to do so again in 2024.

Norris needs to close the gap on Verstappen by just over eight points per race on average to beat the Dutchman to the championship, a bigger gap than the gap between first and second place.

Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri, winner of last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, could only manage fifth place.

And it was a bad session for Ferrari, for whom Sainz won in Singapore last year.

In addition to the Spaniard’s accident, his teammate Charles Leclerc had his lap time wiped for exceeding track limits and will start ninth.

Leclerc had only managed to set the seventh fastest time, slower than the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg, who took an impressive sixth place ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Norris said: “I was struggling to make much progress and the guys around me were getting quicker and quicker, which put pressure on me. But it was enough to get pole. I felt confident all weekend. Maybe not so much in qualifying, but we got the job done.”

Verstappen, who was not happy with his car in Friday practice, said: “The whole qualifying went quite well. We managed to improve the car.”

“I’m happy to be on the front row if you look at how we were yesterday. We all only have one lap so we don’t want to overdo it. I’m second, I’m happy with that.”

Hamilton’s third place is his best qualifying since finishing second on the grid at the British Grand Prix.

He said: “Qualifying has been a disaster for me all year and I’ve been working and working and working to get back up there and all of a sudden the car came to me for the first time in a long time in qualifying.

“We’ve been going up and down in balance. We’ve changed everything and the mechanics have worked flawlessly and I hope we’ll be in a good position to fight for the top positions tomorrow.”