Verstappen shows Norris fury after pivotal Singapore GP incident

Max Verstappen fumed at championship rival Lando Norris following qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.

After George Russell had put in a barnstorming lap in Q3, Verstappen had to find two tenths to have any chance of a seventh pole position of the season.

He looked like he could threaten Russell's time, but backed off in the final sector, handing Mercedes star Russell pole position for Sunday's race.

Over team radio, Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said: "You can thank your mate for that, hard luck," to which Verstappen responded with an expletive.

Replays shown on Sky Sports F1 showed that Verstappen's 'mate' was indeed championship rival Norris, who appeared to block the Dutchman's path before diving into the pits.

After qualifying, in Verstappen's interview in the aftermath of qualifying second, the four-time champion said: "That's what happens when there's a car in front of you just cruising two seconds in front. That's noted, it will be remembered as well."

Asked who the car in front was, Verstappen pointed to Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri who was alongside him, and said: "Not Oscar. So that was a bit of a shame, otherwise I think it could have been close for pole.

"It's always very exciting here in qualifying. Of course I'm disappointed to not be first, but for us this weekend so far has been really good. The car has been very competitive, so for us to be second again is very good."

Advantage Verstappen at Singapore

While Verstappen wasn't able to claim pole, he was the highest qualifier out of the three championship rivals.

The Dutchman will start second, with championship leader Piastri third and Norris all the way down in fifth.

Heading into this weekend, Verstappen is 69 points behind Piastri in the championship standings, and 44 behind Norris, with the three-way championship battle entering the closing stages.

Taking to the official FIA press conference after the session, Verstappen expanded on the incident: "No, I think it's quite clear that it's not nice when it happens to someone.

"In general we're always quite good at that, staying out of the way. Sometimes it's a bit more complicated, but I think in Q3 with only 10 cars on the track it could've been avoided.''

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