2026 SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX – SPRINT QUALIFYING REPORT
October 9, 2026 — Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore — The Cadillac Formula 1® Team faced a tricky Sprint Qualifying session at the Singapore Grand Prix, with Sergio Pérez set to start Saturday’s Sprint from P20, and Valtteri Bottas P21.
The Mexican driver made contact with the wall at Turn 4 on his first flying lap after the rear of the car bottomed out, resulting in front-wing damage and a return to the pits for front wing replacement. Despite the setback, Checo was able to return to the track and set a best lap time of 1:36.760.
Valtteri had a cleaner session, but his second lap was affected by traffic. The bumpy street circuit is proving a tricky challenge for balance and set up which will be the focus for the remainder of the weekend. He ended the session with a best lap time of 1:36.868.
The Sprint Race will take place tomorrow, Saturday 10 October, at 5 p.m. local time.
Checo Pérez:
Qualified: P20 SQ1: 1:36.760
“It was a difficult Sprint Qualifying. I was pushing hard on my first lap in Turn 4 when the rear bottomed out quite aggressively, and I lost control of the car, ending up in the wall and damaging my front wing. We had to come back to the pits to change it, which compromised the session. It’s a shame, but we managed to put together a decent lap afterwards. We’re not too far away from where we should be, so we’ll focus on understanding the car better and improving our race pace for tomorrow.”
Valtteri Bottas:
Qualified: P21 SQ1: 1:36.868
“It was a pretty mixed up session with the Red Flag, and my second lap was a bit traffic-affected. It’s really bumpy here this year - it’s got bumpier - so we’re trying to improve our ride because the biggest lap-time gains will be there. It was quite a disrupted session so I couldn’t learn as much as I wanted to. I think we made some improvements from Practice and we’ll try to continue that direction for the rest of the weekend.”
Marcin Budkowski, Team Principal:
“It was a tough Friday and Sprint Qualifying session for us in Singapore. Checo lost valuable track time in FP1 due to set-up changes in the garage, before experiencing some bottoming that caused him to hit a wall and damage his front wing during Sprint Qualifying. Valtteri's first timed lap was affected by yellow flags then was overtaken by another car while starting his last attempt at the end of the session, which affected his lap. Overall, a scrappy couple of sessions for us ahead of the Sprint tomorrow, and we will keep working on finding the best set up for our current package on this hot, dusty and challenging street circuit for Qualifying and the Race.”