George Russell placed second at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix two weeks ago
Mercedes' George Russell took center stage from the title contenders with a stunning qualifying win at the Singapore Grand Prix
Russell's initial pole position since the Canadian Grand Prix in June, which he triumphed in, was achieved by 0.182 seconds from the Red Bull team's Max Verstappen
McLaren's championship leader Piastri took P3, with his championship competitor and team-mate Lando Norris fifth, behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli
The Ferrari team's Hamilton and Leclerc claimed P6 and P7
It was the team's initial pole in Singapore since Lewis Hamilton achieved his legendary lap in 2018 and came as a surprise as George Russell gatecrashed the McLaren duo's battle
The talk before the weekend was about whether Verstappen could defeat McLaren and take a third straight victory
And while the Dutch driver begins the Grand Prix ahead of both McLarens, and with a good opportunity of strengthening his title credentials, it was Russell who emerged victorious
He set the fastest lap on his first run in final qualifying, despite touching the wall out of the final corner, and then lowered it by 0.007secs on his second run
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Max Verstappen and Piastri both failed to improve on their last attempts - and the Red Bull driver attributed that on Lando Norris driving slow in front of him in the final sector
The incident occurred on the run to the last turn, where the McLaren driver was on the inside entering the pit lane as Max sought to finish his lap
His engineer Lambiase said: "You can thank your mate for that," a nod to the close relationship between Max and Lando
The reigning champion, who looked angry about the incident in the immediate aftermath of the session, said: "If not for that I think it would have been a tight battle for pole"
George Russell said: "I struggled yesterday for many reasons but it's great to bounce back and get a good result today. I knew there was capability in the car"
Oscar Piastri said he simply did not have the pace to compete and was over three-tenths off the top spot
Additional updates coming
Harry Benjamin looks ahead to "gruelling" Singapore
