Winners and losers from the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix qualifying

A bevy of potential yellow-flag infringements in Q1 introduced an element of chaos in the proceedings of qualifying ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, adding an extra element of drama to one of the most challenging full-speed sessions of the year.

These are PlanetF1.com’s winners and losers from qualifying for the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix, with George Russell on pole.

Winners and losers from the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix qualifying

Winner: George Russell — and Mercedes

Since the introduction of 2022’s regulatory set, it’s been clear that Mercedes has really been able to thrive in cool conditions. Yet this weekend in Singapore, it was none other than George Russell taking the all-critical pole position with his teammate Kimi Antonelli lining up in the second row.

Barring an upgrade that put the Mercedes team on the back foot for much of the European swing of the season, Mercedes has exhibited some impressive consistency, with Russell representing the best the team has to offer.

In many ways, Russell has been something of a “dark horse” this year, albeit not necessarily for the drivers’ title. He’s been consistent and undramatic, and that has culminated with his first-ever pole position at Marina Bay.

Overtaking is notoriously challenging at this street circuit, so if Russell is able to hold his position into the first corner, he’ll have a strong shot at taking his second win of the 2025 season.

Special mention should also be paid to Kimi Antonelli, whose fourth-place starting position is one of the best in his rookie campaign. The Italian driver has struggled to find his footing for much of the year thus far, prompting Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff to brand him as “underwhelming” following the Italian Grand Prix.

Since then, Antonelli has endeavored to remind the team that they were right to sign him, and this fourth-place start is another notch in his favor.

Loser: Lando Norris

Unable to set a time quick enough for the first two rows of the grid, Lando Norris will start the Singapore Grand Prix from fifth place in a weekend that has been largely disappointing  for the championship challenger.

Norris has seemed somewhat dejected all weekend long, pointing out in practice that it’s “the driver” and not the car that was a half-second off the pace compared to FP2’s session leader Oscar Piastri before lamenting the prevalence of understeer and tyre falloff after qualifying.

While teammate Piastri clearly had the worse race last time out in Azerbaijan, Norris’ inability to make major waves capitalizing on the title leader’s DNF meant the gap between the two drivers remains 25 points — a full race win’s distance between them.

And making things worse, Norris has also opened himself up to being usurped in the title standings by Max Verstappen, with just 44 points separating the two.

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Winner: Max Verstappen

Though he just missed out on pole position by 0.182s, Max Verstappen will nevertheless line up on the front row for the Singapore Grand Prix as his F1 season faces a potential — and major — turnaround. And if there’s anyone who knows how to make a controlling move into Turn 1, it’s Verstappen.

As things currently stand, Verstappen remains 69 points in arrears of championship leader Oscar Piastri. Statistically, it’s possible that Verstappen could take a championship; historically, it seems fairly unlikely. Yet if anyone can do the unthinkable, it’s the man who carved 35 points out of his championship points deficit in the span of two races.

Speaking to media in the post-qualifying FIA press conference, Verstappen noted that, yet again, he’s feeling comfortable with his RB21 following a few additional upgrades, and that the car has only required some “fine tuning” to improve from one session to the next as opposed to the dramatic upheavals required previously this year.

With the McLarens looking far steadier in Singapore than in Azerbaijan, Verstappen may have stiffer competition. But even having to abort his final flying lap due to Lando Norris’ MCL39 appearing ahead of him couldn’t prevent him from snagging a front row seat to Marina Bay’s drama.

Loser: Alpine

It was yet another disaster of a qualifying session from Alpine this weekend, with neither driver making it out of Q1. Franco Colapinto will start from 18th, with Pierre Gasly starting from 20th.

Gasly suffered from what sounded to be a sort of mechanical failure in the final moments of the first quali session, reporting to the team that his steering felt heavy before he collided with the wall and had to come to a stop.

While the Frenchman seemed to hint in his post-race media availability that he felt more was possible today, he also admitted that the team is “struggling” and that it’s “more frustrating when we can’t even give ourselves a proper chance.”

It’s not likely we’ll see much more of an improvement from the team during the grand prix itself.

Winner: Oscar Piastri

McLaren hasn’t illustrated the dominant pace that has largely defined the scope of the F1 2025 season, yet Oscar Piastri looks to be making the most out of his MCL39 despite a series of somewhat disappointing weekends in both Monza and Baku.

Piastri is still in the lead of the championship standings, albeit with a dwindling gap to both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen following his brush with the barriers in Azerbaijan — a moment that represented a stark break from the Australian’s usual cool-headed approach to competition.

All eyes have been on Piastri here in Singapore, wondering if we’ll see a comeback or another stumble. Third in qualifying is by no means the Australian’s finest moment, but he admitted to race engineer Tom Stallard that third was about what the car was capable of.

Perhaps most critically, he qualified ahead of teammate Lando Norris and also kept his MCL39 out of the wall.

Loser: Lance Stroll

Aston Martin has been having a supremely “Aston Martin 2025” weekend — which is to say the team boasted a decent amount of speed in practice, but the duo couldn’t crack the top five come qualifying.

In much the same vein, Lance Stroll had a supremely “Lance Stroll 2025” qualifying — which is to say that he was knocked out once again in Q1 during one of Aston Martin’s quick weekends while his teammate Fernando Alonso made it all the way to Q3.

Stroll will start the Singapore Grand Prix from 17th, and he’ll have a long race ahead of him if he’s looking to finish in the points.

Winner: Isack Hadjar

Despite the fact that Isack Hadjar was somewhat frustrated after qualifying, feeling that he had more pace available; he was unable to finish his final flying lap because he ended up spinning at Turn 8.

But it does say a lot that Hadjar was frustrated with what ultimately turned out to be a time good enough to start from the eighth position on the grid on Sunday.

The Franco-Algerian rookie has been hugely impressive thus far this season; while the Racing Bulls machine hasn’t always agreed with certain circuits, Hadjar has nevertheless largely been able to make the most of each event, to the extent that he’s sitting ninth in the drivers’ standings at the moment — ahead of both his teammate Liam Lawson as well as Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda.

He qualified ahead of both those drivers in Singapore, too, in yet another impressive showing.

Loser: Yuki Tsunoda

The pressure is on for Yuki Tsunoda as the Japanese driver looks to retain a position — any driving position; not necessarily a role with Red Bull Racing — heading into 2026.

Unfortunately, his performance in qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix hasn’t done him any favors. Tsunoda spent much of the first qualifying session at the very bottom of the timing sheets yet was able to set a lap quick enough to launch him above the cutline right when it counted.

He wasn’t anywhere near as lucky in Q2, when he could only manage to set a time good enough for 15th.

The Japanese driver pinpointed a mysterious lack of grip as his primary concern, with some ill-timed yellow flags only serving to make his day more challenging.

There’s much to be said about the so-called “curse” of Red Bull’s second seat, but unfortunately for Tsunoda, he’s simply not making a compelling case for Red Bull Racing — or for any other team — to hedge its bets on him in the future.

Read next: Singapore GP: George Russell sets pole position as angry Max Verstappen takes aim at Norris