It was a qualifying session like no other in Singapore, Charles Leclerc taking pole over Sergio Perez by .02 of a second on a damp street circuit which saw eight cars running for the entirety of Q3.
An intense downpour earlier in the day left significant amounts of standing water over sections of track requiring intermediates in Q1 and Q2 before a gamble of a switch to slicks in Q3.
The result of such saw provisional pole change multiple times throughout the session as tyres came up to temperature.
This meant the on-board fuel quantities were adjusted to allow for longer runnings, however championship leader Max Verstappen, who looked set to take pole, was forced to box on his final run to ensure an appropriate fuel sample could be taken.
This sees Verstappen starting out of place in eighth.
Sir Lewis Hamilton showed all of his experience during Q3 and looked set for his first pole of 2022 until the closing stages. He still managed the third fastest time, his highest grid position this year.
Carlos Sainz will start in fourth ahead of Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris respectively, Pierre Gasly, Verstappen, Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top 10.
The damp track caused issues for both Leclerc and Magnussen in Q1, the pair both making use of the runoff at a very damp Turn 8. Alex Albon also went long at Turn 18, all three returning and setting faster laps later in the session.
Albon’s improvement was not enough to see him make it through to Q2, eliminated along with teammate Nicholas Latifi.
Daniel Ricciardo’s struggles with McLaren continued, managing only the 17th fastest time, whilst Esteban Ocon was also eliminated in Q1 for the first time this season.
Valtteri Bottas was the fifth driver not to make Q2.
Turn 8 continued to plague drivers in Q2, the standing water this time sending Mick Schumacher long early in the session.
Teams flirted with the potential of a change to slicks with five minutes to go, the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Sebastien Vettel the first ones to brave softs. Zhou Guanyu was the other driver to make the change for Alfa Romeo to seek Q3 qualification.
The gamble didn’t pay off, the trio eliminated from Q2, unable to adapt to the track conditions.
Schumacher also failed to progress, whilst Russell was the surprise elimination of the session in 11th.
Slicks were in order at the start of Q3, however, the entire field with the exception of Magnussen and Tsunoda heading out on softs.
As the laps came in, times began to tumble, provisional pole switching multiple times heading into the final five minutes.
Tsunoda and Magnussen were the only drivers to come in for tyre changes in Q3, changing from intermediates to softs to join the pack as times continued to fall.
It was Leclerc who set the benchmark late in the session, Verstappen unable to complete his two final runs, which looked set for top spot, to ensure a fuel sample could be obtained post-session.
Verstappen can claim the Drivers Championship as early this weekend with five further rounds to go, a win with fastest lap, Leclerc finishing no higher than eighth and Perez coming home no higher than fourth a slim possibility.
The Singapore Grand Prix begins at 1am NZ time and will be shown live on Spark Sport.
