Verstappen on sprint pole after another settings issue

Red Bull's Max Verstappen beat Mercedes driver George Russell to sprint pole at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Verstappen, fresh from his and Red Bull's first victory of the season in Malaysia last weekend, was 0.12 seconds quicker than the Briton, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc third.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were fourth and fifth ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, who went early in final qualifying and fell down the order from initially being second behind Leclerc.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli, using the Mercedes upgrade that underperformed in Malaysia while Russell is on the previous specification, could manage only seventh.

And there were further glitches with the engine settings provided by governing body the FIA five days after the formation laps in the wet in Malaysia saw cars reduced to crawling speed as a result of a software bug.

The settings issue, which was combined with a glitch in the F1 timing system that delayed the start of second qualifying, did not affect the order.

However, it did involve the settings being different before and after a red flag caused by a crash for Sergio Perez's Cadillac and left drivers complaining of reduced power.

It involved overtake mode - which allows an extra 0.5MJ of energy to be harvested - being switched on and off again in the space of 28 seconds.

The FIA has been approached for comment but has not yet provided an explanation.

Verstappen's pole lap appeared to be further confirmation of Red Bull's resurgence after his dominant win in Malaysia but he faces an investigation for overtaking under yellow flags shown before the first session was stopped for the Perez incident.

The four-time champion said he had not believed pole was possible before qualifying.

"We have some difficulties with the car in ride, as we know," he said, "but at least when we went to the soft tyres (in the final session) it made the car a bit more stable in places where before you were a bit unsure.

"I did not expect this but you take it, I'm happy for sure. Qualifying tomorrow is still the main goal and for us the start is always a critical point but at least a positive end to our day."

Russell's performance compared with that of Antonelli raises further doubts about the efficacy of the Mercedes upgrade introduced in Malaysia.