In a night that looked to be about Max Verstappen, Ferrari took away his spotlight. Charles Leclerc delivered a convincing qualifying performance before the possibly decisive Singapore GP that can see Max Verstappen lift his second world title.

Qualifying in Singapore was fraught with controversy. Max Verstappen looked set to find himself high up on the grid before he was pulled back by Red Bull and asked to abort his lap.

When questioned about the weekend’s importance in the title race, Leclerc showed no interest in falling for the ploy. He said, “I don’t care. I want to win here, that’s all that counts for me. I know it’s only a matter of time before Max gets his title dry, but when that happens is really not that important to me.” [translated using Google]

Charles exuded confidence for Sunday, as he commented, “I am very confident for the race. I had a good feeling in the car from the first lap. But on Friday we had a few small problems and I would have liked to have been able to drive more. I’m not worried. We are well positioned for the Grand Prix and have shown today that we can deal with all conditions.”

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The stakes at offer on Sunday have been significantly pushed higher as a result of Verstappen’s P8 in qualifying. A win from Charles would only make things intense, and Red Bull would not want to be put in that situation.

Charles Leclerc takes pole with the help of an astute tire selection

A wet Marina Bay Street Circuit posed great difficulties for all drivers. In Carlos Sainz’s words, “It was certainly one of the most difficult qualifying sessions of the year.”

Charles’ best timing of 1:49.412 (Q3) looks impressive under those circumstances. He credited his timing to the tire selections strategized by Mattia Binotto & Co.

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He said, “The tricky question was when is the best time to switch from intermediate tires to slicks. I think the timing was right for us… I felt we were going fast.”

“In the first and second part of qualifying the intermediate tires were the right choice, but in Q3 everything pretty much changed when we went out on slicks. The hardest part was the last sector, because there were still a lot of damp spots.”

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The young driver will be looking to make the most of his pole, and Verstappen’s P8. While a win might not force Red Bull’s hands off the title, it might have them sweating a bit.