BBC Sport has reported:

Max Verstappen took pole position for Saturday’s sprint at the Singapore Grand Prix, ahead of Mercedes driver George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The 21-lap race is part of Formula 1’s 17th round of the season, held at Marina Bay Street Circuit from Oct. 9 to 11. The weekend is the sixth and final sprint event of the 2026 campaign, and Marina Bay is hosting a sprint weekend for the first time.

The sprint starts at 10 a.m. BST on Saturday, Oct. 10. Qualifying follows from 2 to 3 p.m. BST, with both sessions scheduled for 5 Sports Extra. Sunday’s 62-lap grand prix begins at 1 p.m. BST, with coverage build-up from 12:45 p.m. The race starts at 8 p.m. local time in Singapore.

Russell, who won last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, will start this year’s race from the back of the grid because of an engine penalty. He retired from the race in Malaysia with an engine issue. His Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who qualified seventh, leads Russell by 84 points in the drivers’ championship.

The forecast calls for possible rain and thundery showers during Saturday’s sprint and qualifying, as well as Sunday’s grand prix. Conditions are expected to dry before the night-time action, while temperatures at Marina Bay could reach 32C. For the second race in a row, the weekend has been designated a heat-hazard event. The official status applies when temperatures are forecast to exceed 31C at some point during a race; it is the fourth time this season that F1 has declared a heat hazard.

Sprint qualifying consists of three sessions, SQ1, SQ2 and SQ3, lasting 12, 10 and eight minutes respectively. The six slowest cars are eliminated in each of the first two sessions, as in regular qualifying, and the results determine the sprint grid. Points go to the top eight finishers, from eight for first place down to one for eighth, and count toward the overall drivers’ championship.

The Singapore Grand Prix first appeared on the F1 calendar in 2008 and was the sport’s first night race. Commentary will be available on 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds, and the BBC Sport website and app. Listeners can ask a smart speaker to “play 5 Sports Extra,” and episodes of the Chequered Flag podcast are also available. For the first time this year, a post-race show for every grand prix can be watched on BBC iPlayer and YouTube.