FACTS AND STATS: Leclerc clocks most poles for a Ferrari driver in a season since 2001

Singapore has returned to the calendar with a bang, offering up a thrilling qualifying session in drying conditions that caused plenty of strategy headaches for the teams. In the end Charles Leclerc did what he has done so often this season and extracted a brilliant lap when it mattered to grab pole, but that wasn’t the only storyline at Marina Bay, with Max Verstappen only qualifying eighth. Here are the best facts and stats from Singapore…

• Charles Leclerc’s pole is his ninth of the year, the most for a Ferrari driver in one season since Michael Schumacher took 11 in 2001.

• Ferrari have taken four of the last six Singapore poles, and finished with a one-two in the most recent race here.

• Leclerc’s 18th career pole moves him ahead of rival Max Verstappen.

READ MORE: Leclerc claims pole position by 0.022s from Perez in stunning wet-dry Singapore qualifying as Verstappen takes P8

• Sergio Perez has his first front row start since Spa, but his first on merit (rather than thanks to grid penalties) since Baku.

• Lewis Hamilton claims his first top three qualifying slot of 2022, having missed out on pole by just 0.054s.

• Carlos Sainz in fourth has his highest ever start at Marina Bay.

• Fernando Alonso starts P5, the best starting slot for an Enstone-fielded car (Lotus, Renault or Alpine) here since 2013.

• It’s the fifth time in the last 10 races here that Alonso has started P5.

• Lando Norris qualified in the top six for the eighth time this season.

• Pierre Gasly has his highest start since Baku, where he scored his team’s best result of the year with fifth.

• Verstappen starts eighth for the first time this season, having won from seven different starting slots this season.

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• Verstappen did start eighth here on his first visit as a rookie with Toro Rosso in 2015.

• Kevin Magnussen made it to Q3, his first time in the top 10 here since 2014 when he drove for McLaren.

• Yuki Tsunoda was P10, meaning AlphaTauri had both cars in the top 10 for the first time since Baku nine races ago.

• George Russell suffered his third Q2 elimination of the year.

• This was the first time Lance Stroll has ever made it out of Q1 in Singapore.

• But for his team mate, this was the first time Sebastian Vettel has failed to make Q3 here on merit, excluding mechanical failures.

• Valtteri Bottas suffered his third Q1 elimination in the last four races, after 148 races without that happening.

• Daniel Ricciardo was also out in Q1 for the third time in seven races.

• The Australian had not previously failed to make Q3 here since 2012.

• Esteban Ocon was out in Q1 for the third time this season.

• Alex Albon managed to out-qualify Nicholas Latifi by over half a second on his return after missing qualifying in Monza.

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