Charles Leclerc claimed his third consecutive pole position for Ferrari, taking both the Mercedes and Red Bull teams by surprise ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Leclerc outpaced Hamilton by 0.19s seconds to clinch the pole despite losing control of the car on several occasions, according to the Frenchman. Sebastian Vettel had held the provisional pole position after the first runs in Q3, but both Hamilton and Leclerc improved on their times during their second runs to claim the front row of the grid.

It was expected that Ferrari would struggle around the streets of Singapore, but both Ferrari drivers made significant progress with the setup of the car during the course of the race weekend.

Leclerc was strongest in the first sector, where Ferrari is able to maximise its power advantage. That said, Leclerc did have to put in the work to fend off Hamilton in the next two sectors where Mercedes appears to be the stronger car.

Vettel aborted his second run after making an error which meant his time would not improve. The German will be starting from third position. Vettel said that he had “peaked too early in the session,” and that his lap “should have been better”.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had been hoping to be stronger and challenge the front row of the grid, but finished in fourth place, just under 6 tenths off Leclerc’s time. Valtteri Bottas initially showed some good pace but failed to improve on his Q2 time and had to settle for fifth place in the second Mercedes.

Alex Albon impressed on his first visit to Singapore, claiming sixth place in the second Red Bull. Carlos Sainz finished seventh fastest for McLaren ahead of the Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg. Lando Norris claimed the last spot in the top ten for the second McLaren.

Sergio Perez qualified in eleventh position but will drop five grid places with a penalty following a gearbox replacement. That moves Antonio Giovinazzi up a position, and he’ll start ahead of the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly.

Kimi Raikkonen damaged his front wing on his first run out in Q2 and was unable to improve on his second run. Magnussen will start the race behind him with Daniil Kvyat, Lance Stroll, Romain Grosjean, George Russel, and Robert Kubica rounding out the grid.

UPDATE: Daniel Ricciardo has been excluded from the qualifying results for exceeding the MGU-K power limit during Q1.