CARLOS SAINZ TOOK pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix after world championship leader Max Verstappen and Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez failed to make it into final qualifying.
Sainz’s lap of 1min 30.984sec pipped the Mercedes of George Russell by 0.072sec and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who was third, 0.007sec further back.
Lance Stroll survived a staggering 110mph crash in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Canadian driver lost control of his Aston Martin through the final left-hander at the Marina Bay Circuit before he slammed into the barrier.
The force of the high-speed impact sent Stroll’s head rocking from side-to-side. He catapulted back across the track with British driver Lando Norris forced to take evasive action – dodging a flying wheel and Stroll’s out-of-control machine.
“Is the driver alright?” asked Norris on the radio. “That must have been quite a big one.”
Stroll pirouetted to a standstill in the middle of the track before his race engineer Ben Michell came on the radio.
“Lance, car is safe,” said Michell. “Are you okay?” Stroll, 24, replied: “Yeah, I am OK.”
The Aston Martin driver emerged from his wrecked car unaided before being taken off to the medical centre.
Stroll’s accident brought a premature end to a frenetic conclusion to Q1 with drivers improving as the city-state track evolved.
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda led the way, with Lewis Hamilton 14th of the 20 runners with the bottom five set to be eliminated.
Stroll’s impact left the marshals with a significant barrier repair job at the final corner, with fluid from his car also on the track.
The session was delayed for 34 minutes before Q2 started at 9:53pm local time.
With reporting from – © AFP 2023
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