On a day when Red Bull hoped to surprise everyone, it was George Russell who outpaced his rivals and took the top spot. However, the Milton Keynes team voiced complaints, claiming that Lando Norris blocked Max Verstappen during his final qualifying attempt. But would that lap have actually been good enough for pole position for the Dutch driver?
Before qualifying, Red Bull was confident the fight for pole would be extremely tight, decided by mere hundredths of a second. And that’s exactly how it played out: without the incident at the final chicane affecting Verstappen’s last lap, the gap to George Russell would have been minimal.
For this reason, both the four-time world champion and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko fueled the discussion about the incident, specifically focusing on Lando Norris, who allegedly hindered the Red Bull driver at the entry of the final chicane.
According to the Milton Keynes advisor, Norris’s presence significantly influenced Verstappen’s lap, as the Dutchman was slightly off-line entering the last chicane, losing the crucial tenths that cost him a chance to challenge Russell.
“Qualifying went as expected, but Lando Norris’s actions are incomprehensible. We were already one and a half tenths faster than our previous lap, and he completely blocked Max in the last two corners,” Marko commented, speaking bluntly about the British driver’s behavior during the final lap.
“For Norris, there was nothing at stake, so for me it remains inexplicable. Max would have been extremely close [to Russell]. I hope he wasn’t checking his mirrors. I can’t imagine it was intentional,” the Red Bull consultant added, noting that Singapore isn’t exactly a track suited to highlighting the best qualities of the RB21, yet the team was still ahead of McLaren.
Marko sees this as an encouraging sign for the coming races, suggesting the team’s championship hopes, while slim, are not yet dead: “The fact that we are ahead of both McLarens shows we are competitive here, and that gives us confidence for the upcoming races. Of course, starting position is crucial, but as long as we are ahead of McLaren, it’s already a success for us.”
However, a question remains: did Norris’s actions really cost Verstappen a pole position? As Marko noted, Verstappen was improving over his first attempt, shaving about one and a half tenths off his time, but he was still over one and a half tenths behind Russell’s benchmark.
Norris had made the difference primarily in the middle sector, where Mercedes could exploit traction out of slow corners, a strength throughout the season. The final sector, with its long straights and DRS-dependent zones, seemed ideal for Red Bull, which had already shown better pace at the start of Q3.
Even if Verstappen had matched his previous sector times in the final section, it would not have been enough for pole: Russell would have kept first place by just 32 thousandths. Essentially, the world champion needed a record-breaking last sector, better than his previous one, but the references were not in his favor.
Looking at the micro-sectors, Verstappen had not improved significantly up to that point, partly due to an imperfect passage through turn 14, leaving a few hundredths that resulted in a slightly slower entry into turn 16. He tried to recover on the following straight, but that’s where the error occurred.
Marko blamed Norris, but in reality the British driver was quite distant when Verstappen approached the braking point of turn 16, so there was no true impeding. Telemetry shows that Max actually lifted slightly later than on his previous lap, entering aggressively but failing to correct it.
In fact, Verstappen was in contention for pole, but even without the braking error at turn 16, he would have needed a flawless final chicane and last corner to beat Russell and take first position.
“It happens when you have a car ahead moving calmly two seconds in front. It was noticed, and it will be remembered,” Verstappen said afterward. Norris appeared surprised by the reigning world champion’s complaints, convinced he was still far enough ahead not to affect the rival. “They always complain. They complain about everything. It’s Red Bull. I don’t even know. I was like three seconds ahead. I can’t understand it,” the British driver said while returning to the pits.
Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies also expressed doubt that the incident truly influenced the pole fight, as it probably wouldn’t have been enough to beat Russell anyway.
“First of all, I think it was a very solid qualifying for Max and the team, once again. It’s nice to see some long faces when you take the front row, and of course we believe we would have been much closer to George without that traffic in the last corner, but that’s life. I won’t say we would have been ahead, but Max would definitely have been there, very close,” Mekies explained.
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