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Mercedes' George Russell surprised everyone from the championship fighters with a remarkable qualifying win at the Singapore Grand Prix

The driver's first pole since the Canadian Grand Prix in the summer, which he won, was secured by 0.182 seconds from Red Bull's Max Verstappen

McLaren's championship leader Piastri took third place, with his championship competitor and colleague Norris fifth, behind the Mercedes squad's Antonelli

Ferrari's Hamilton and Charles Leclerc claimed sixth and seventh

It was Mercedes' initial pole in this venue since Hamilton set his famous lap in 2018 and was unexpected as George Russell gatecrashed the McLaren duo's battle

The discussion before the event was about whether Verstappen could defeat the McLaren team and secure a third straight victory

And while the Dutch driver does start the Grand Prix in front of both McLaren cars, and with a strong chance of strengthening his championship hopes, it was Russell who came out on top

He set the quickest time on his initial attempt in final qualifying, despite brushing the barrier out of Turn 17, and then lowered it by a tiny margin on his final attempt

Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri both could not better on their last attempts - and the Red Bull driver blamed that on Norris going slowly in front of him in the final sector

The incident happened on the run to the final corner, where Norris was on the inside coming into the pits as Verstappen sought to finish his qualifying run

His race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said: "You can thank your mate for that," a nod to the close relationship between Max and Norris

The reigning champion, who appeared frustrated about the situation in the immediate aftermath of qualifying, stated: "If not for that I think it would have been a tight battle for pole"

Russell said: "I struggled yesterday for many reasons but it's good to bounce back and get a good result today. I was aware there was potential in the vehicle"

Piastri said he simply did not have the speed to challenge and was over three-tenths off the top spot

More to follow