Max Verstappen will start Saturday’s Singapore Sprint from pole position after stewards cleared him of a yellow flag infringement during Sprint Qualifying at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, ruling that his overtake on Lewis Hamilton was an unavoidable consequence of a significant speed differential rather than a deliberate breach.
Verstappen had set the fastest time in Sprint Qualifying with a 1m 31.156s lap on soft tyres, placing him 0.120 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and 0.243s clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The result was placed under investigation after Hamilton reported over team radio that Verstappen had passed him while single yellow flags were displayed following a crash by Cadillac’s Sergio Perez in SQ1.
According to the stewards’ official document, Verstappen was on a push lap exiting Turn 7 when the yellow flag was displayed. Hamilton, who had been warned of Verstappen’s approach, slowed and moved to the right of the circuit. Verstappen overtook Hamilton prior to Turn 8 while both cars remained in the yellow flag sector, before abandoning the push lap.
Telemetry confirmed that Verstappen lifted fully off the throttle within approximately 40 metres of entering the yellow flag sector. At the point of the overtake, Hamilton had reduced his speed to less than 60 km/h, while Verstappen’s speed was some 70 km/h lower than his pace on another push lap in the same session.
Verstappen told stewards that he had been on throttle exiting Turn 7, saw the yellow flag, and lifted immediately. He added that braking heavily enough to avoid the overtake would have potentially created an unsafe situation.
The stewards acknowledged that Verstappen had technically breached the yellow flag regulation by overtaking Hamilton, but determined that he had “reacted appropriately to the yellow flag” and that the pass was “an unfortunate consequence of the significant closing speed differential.” No penalty was imposed.
With his pole confirmed, Verstappen leads the Sprint grid ahead of Russell and Leclerc. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris qualified fourth and fifth respectively, with Piastri 0.055s behind Leclerc. Hamilton ended the session sixth in the second Ferrari, ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli — the current Drivers’ Championship leader — and Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson. Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 for Red Bull and Alpine, though both had lap times deleted in SQ3.
Perez, whose crash triggered the yellow flag at the centre of the investigation, will start the 21-lap Sprint from the back row alongside Williams’ Carlos Sainz.