Lando Norris has qualified on pole for Sunday’s Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, while world championship leader Max Verstappen will start alongside his British challenger.

The McLaren driver, who enters the race 59 points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ championship, produced a blistering 1:29.525 at the end of qualifying to snatch pole. 

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will start third alongside his teammate George Russell, while Australian Oscar Piastri will start from fifth.

Norris has been slowly reducing the deficit to Verstappen over the past 10 races as McLaren continues to prove it is the fastest car in F1 currently. 

“It was tough, especially through qualifying I was finding it a little difficult to progress much and find lap time,” Norris said.

“It got the heart rate going, it was good fun. There was more in it but the car is feeling good, which makes you confident to go out and push.”

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After a horrid day in practice on Friday, Verstappen produced a champion’s driver to make it onto the front row.

Despite holding a 59-point lead in the championship with seven grands prix left in the year, Verstappen has been on the backfoot for several months. 

“I think the whole of qualifying went quite well, we managed to improve the car run after run. I’m happy to be on the front row when you look at where we were yesterday. I’ll take second, I’m happy with that,” Verstappen said.

“In Singapore a lot of things can happen but at least we have a shot at it starting like this.”

Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez struggled again, qualifying 13th as the team’s grip on the constructors’ championship continues to weaken.

McLaren heads into the Singapore Grand Prix with a 20-point lead over Red Bull in the constructors’ championship, with Ferrari a further 31 points adrift.

Ferrari will be on the backfoot on Sunday, with Carlos Sainz crashing out of Q3, finishing qualifying 10th fastest while teammate Charles Leclerc was ninth fastest as he time in Q3 was deleted.

Ricciardo knocked out in Q1 as rumours about future swirl

Australian Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo qualified 16th for Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix as speculation mounts that his future in the sport in in jeopardy.

The RB driver was knocked out in Q1 during Saturday’s qualifying session, while his teammate Yuki Tsunoda was able to be ninth fastest. 

“Every soft [tyre] I used today I was not competitive at all — not much to say,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1.

There have been rumours around the F1 paddock that this weekend could be Ricciardo’s last for RB as the team considers Kiwi Liam Lawson, who filled in for Ricciardo last season when the Australian broke his wrist. 

The rumours have been strong enough for Ricciardo to openly talk about his future during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, telling reporters he could not say with confidence if he would drive in F1 next season or at the next race in Austin, Texas. 

“I obviously don’t say it with confidence because nothing’s signed on the dotted line yet and I know until it is, I’m not going to say ‘yay I’ve got one’ because that could be silly,” he said on Thursday

“I know my season, I hoped for more from myself but I also think that around Montreal when the pressure was definitely building and ramping up, I think since then it’s actually been certainly more positive than not.

“That’s what I’ll keep trying to do, and if it’s enough it is. If not then that’s obviously up to Red Bull.”

John Higgins reaches 1,000 career centuries but is knocked out of the English Open; Ronnie O’Sullivan is the only other player to have reached the four-figure century milestone

John Higgins became only the second snooker player to reach 1,000 career centuries

John Higgins became only the second snooker player to reach 1,000 career centuries despite crashing out of the English Open in Brentwood.

The 49-year-old Scot achieved the milestone with breaks of 108 and 105 in the third and fifth frames of his quarter-final clash against Mark Allen.

But it was not enough to seal a win that would have boosted his hopes of staying in the top 16 as Allen – who hit a century of his own in the opening frame – held firm in a gruelling decider to edge a 4-3 win.

Ronnie O’Sullivan is the only other player to have reached the four-figure century milestone, having done so in the final frame of his 2019 Players Championship final win over Neil Robertson.

Earlier, Judd Trump set up a quarter-final clash with China’s Wu Yize after hitting back from behind to claim a 4-2 win over Fan Zhengyi.

The world No 1 nudged one closer to joining O’Sullivan and Higgins in the thousand-century club as he reeled off a break of 101 in the course of winning three frames in a row to extend his winning run.

Mark Selby held his nerve to carve out a 4-3 win over Si Jiahui and book a last-eight meeting with India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha, who also overcame a final frame decider against China’s He Guoqiang.

Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight showdown with Daniel Dubois takes place on Saturday September 21 live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book Joshua v Dubois now!