2025 Singapore GP Qualifying Preview

Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2025 Singapore GP qualifying preview. You can read James’ outright preview via this link.

2025 Singapore GP Qualifying

It has been a fairly confusing weekend so far. The track here evolves during every session. The rain that falls during the day or overnight can clean the track and for the next session, the rubber goes down again and the speed picks up lap by lap.

FP2 should have been the most representative session as it was held under lights and after sunset. However, two red flags made it a very disjointed session and nobody did any long runs.

FP3 saw the track at 42 degrees, ten degrees higher than FP2, and the qualifying session is likely to see the track considerably cooler than it was earlier, and that could suit some more than others.

Close

The top five cars in FP3 were separated by just 0.01, which is ridiculous. Max Verstappen was fastest having been third in the first two practice sessions. This is his bogey track, but when the car is good enough, he invariably goes well enough to get pole.

Piastri was second, 0.017 off Verstappen’s time. He was fastest in FP2. George Russell ended FP2 in the wall yesterday and Antonelli was 18th. They didn’t get a run on the soft tyres abut when they did today, Russell was 3rd and Antonelli 4th.

Norris is saying that he isn’t feeling it as well as he did last year and while he was only 0.089 seconds slower, he was fifth, such are the fine margins. Clearly the drivers cannot afford to make a mistake in qualifying, and they will need a bit of luck and good planning.

Chance Of Flags

The chance of someone sticking it in the wall and causing a yellow or red flag (we have had three already this weekend) is high and getting a banker lap in early is important, but with the track ramping up, you would also want to have another go as late in the sessions as possible. Traffic will be a problem and we have seen a lot of aborted laps due to blocking. The stewards will be busy.

Max Verstappen has had six pole positions in 2025, and the last two in a row. This is a very different track and to be fastest here does mean that the car is properly sorted and not just good on low downforce set ups.

Disappointed McLaren

McLaren will be disappointed with their pace. Their real strength is race pace and they haven’t dominated qualifying. Norris has had four pole positions, Piastri five. Good, but not as good as Verstappen. Russell has had one pole and they have not been great on high downforce tracks so to see him up in contention is surprising.

Norris has been second best to Piastri in all three sessions and his head does go down too easily in these situations. Are Mercedes really in the hunt? It would be a total surprise given the nature of their car and recent results. But both drivers were right up there.

Of the other teams Williams and Racing Bulls look good, but both are having problems with one driver. At Williams it is Albon. He missed FP1 after a brake fire ended his session without setting a time. That put him on the back foot and he hasn’t made the top 10 since.

Sainz Looking Quick

Carlos Sainz has looked very quick at times and was 8th in both sessions yesterday and 6th today. His problem for qualifying is that they are struggling on the soft tyres. They look to have very good race pace, but Sainz may struggle if he makes it to Q3.

At Racing Bull, it is Hadjar who is leading the charge. 7th in FP1 and FP3 and 2nd in FP2, so he could be a dark horse if the track is anywhere near the temperatures of FP2.

We are on Lawson for a points finish and he has had a stinker. The curse of the Punt Pound is strong. Lawson has crashed not once, but twice. His confidence will be less than zero. The car is good here, as expected, but he has been really poor.

Aston Martin are head scratchers. Alonso was fastest in FP1 and they were 4th and 6th in FP2. In FP3 15th and 17th. They may have just been running heavy. Nobody really got any long runs on heavy fuel yesterday, and maybe they just ran heavy today but surely they would have wanted to do a proper qualifying sim?

Fastest Qualifier

Verstappen is the 2.75 favourite, Piastri and Norris both 3.50, Russell 13.00 and Antonelli 17.00.

There are two options in my head. The first is just to back Verstappen. Give him a chance and he takes it, even on a bogey track. He is on a roll and the odds are quite decent.

The other is to have an each way bet on Russell. His pace doesn’t make much sense. Yes, the Mercedes is better on a track with short corners, but they usually are slow in high downforce set ups and they don’t like high temperatures or bumps.

However, the fact is that both cars were top four and within 0.01 in FP3. Had it just been one of them, then you would think it was just a killer lap, but clearly the car is delivering. Can Mr. Saturday deliver? We can bet each way the top three and the odds are good enough.

2025 Singapore GP qualifying Tip: 1 point Max Verstappen to be the fastest qualifier @ 2.75 generally available

2025 Singapore GP qualifying Tip: 0.5 point e/w George Russell to be the fastest qualifier @ 13.00 with BET365, Boylesports

Match Bets

Way down at the back, the battle between the two Alpine drivers is hotting up, a little. Colapinto has out qualified Gasly 3-1 in the last four races. Perhaps the penny has dropped that he is racing for his career. He was faster quite comfortably in FP3, Gasly did have trouble getting a clean lap in, but when he did, it was slow. Colapinto was slower yesterday but seems to have found a bit more pace.

2025 Singapore GP qualifying Tip: 1 point Colapinto to out qualify Gasly @ 2.45 with Livescorebet

Haas have been looking OK this weekend, but they are an unpredictable bunch. In qualifying Bearman leads Ocon 9-7, so not much between them. Ocon has been the faster driver in all three sessions so far. Maybe his track experience is making the difference as Bearman is making his debut in Singapore.

2025 Singapore GP qualifying Tip: 1 point Esteban Ocon to beat Oliver Bearman @ 1.86 with Liverscorebet

-JamesPunt