Carlos Sainz takes pole at Singapore GP, Max Verstappen 11th after 'absolutely shocking' Q2 exit

Max Verstappen's quest to win 11 consecutive Grands Prix looks in trouble after a disastrous qualifying session that saw him finish 11th on Saturday evening in Singapore, while Ferrari's Carlos Sainz took pole position.

At the Marina Bay Street Circuit, with local temperatures approaching 30 degrees celsius and humidity at 79%, many of the drivers were feeling the heat.

Lance Stroll crashed at high speed in Q1 and the red flag came out. The Canadian was ok but dropped out of the race alongside Valtteri Bottas, Oscar Piastri, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu at the end of the first session.

During the pause, Piastri told Sky Sports: "I'm glad Lance is ok, it's a very big crash and it's just a shame we were just behind instead of just in front of it, so it makes our evening tomorrow very difficult."

Charles Leclerc had been fastest in the first laps of Q1, with Lando Norris and Sergio Perez behind him, but Mercedes' George Russell took top spot on his first lap, while Lewis Hamilton was sitting fifth.

The start of the second session was delayed while the debris from Stroll's crash was removed from the course. Stroll's Aston Martin team later said he was "cleared after a precautionary visit to the medical centre".

Verstappen was one of a number of drivers noted for impeding in the first session, and the Dutchman gave an expletive-laden reply over the team radio.

When Q2 finally got underway, Fernando Alonso made an ideal start, moving into P1 after the first runs. Kevin Magnussen posted a speedy time, too as he finished ahead of the Red Bulls.

Russell then took provisional pole by the finest of margins - 0.092 seconds - while Hamilton went into fifth.

Alpha Tauri driver Yuki Tsunoda was in the drop zone but complained over the radio that Verstappen had impeded him.

The Red Bulls were both in trouble and Perez spun out at turn three before being yellow flagged out of the session.

Then Verstappen suffered a similar fate, running 11th as Alpha Tauri rookie Liam Lawson sensationally snuck into tenth ahead of the world champion.

Joining the two Red Bulls in dropping out in Q2 were Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, and Tsunoda.

Verstappen was then caught expressing his frustration on the team radio, saying: "Absolutely shocking experience."

Leclerc was briefly troubled by the stewards after failing to slow under a yellow flag, but he was swiftly absolved.

Sainz was the provisional pole before the final two minutes of the session, with Leclerc, Norris and Russell close behind.

And the Spaniard was untouchable in the closing stages and finished on top of the pile, taking his second pole in as many races, and the fifth of his career.

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