Which F1 Pole Lap Wins? Every Singapore GP Pole Lap Raced At Once (2008-2025)
What happens if every Singapore GP pole lap starts at the same moment? We took all 16 pole laps from 2008 to 2025, lined them up at Marina Bay and let them race in real time. Each lap is a car pulling a trail, and the cars overtake each other wherever they are faster.
The result: 15.6 seconds in 17 years
George Russell's 2025 pole lap of 1:29.158 wins the race. Felipe Massa took the first ever Singapore GP pole in 2008 with a 1:44.801, which puts him 15.643 seconds behind when Russell crosses the line.
The slowest lap of all is not the oldest one. Charles Leclerc's 2022 pole was set on a drying track, so his 1:49.412 finishes last, more than 20 seconds behind the winner.
Every Singapore GP pole lap
Year | Driver | Team | Pole lap |
2008 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:44.801 |
2009 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 1:47.891 |
2010 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:45.390 |
2011 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:44.381 |
2012 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 1:46.362 |
2013 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:42.841 |
2014 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:45.681 |
2015 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:43.885 |
2016 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:42.584 |
2017 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:39.491 |
2018 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:36.015 |
2019 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:36.217 |
2022 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:49.412 |
2023 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:30.984 |
2024 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:29.525 |
2025 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:29.158 |
There was no Singapore Grand Prix in 2020 or 2021.
Why the laps are grouped by track layout
Marina Bay has changed four times since 2008, so a 2008 lap and a 2025 lap were not set on the same track. In the video the laps race inside their own layout group, and each group shows the circuit with the changed section marked in red.
2008 to 2012: the original layout
2013 to 2014: the Turn 10 'Singapore Sling' chicane is removed
2015 to 2017: Turns 11 to 13 are reshaped
2018 to 2022: Turns 16 and 17 are realigned
2023 to 2025: Turns 16 to 19 are replaced by a straight, which makes the lap shorter and much faster
The closest fights
The best battle is Hamilton 2018 against Leclerc 2019. Leclerc is 0.052 seconds ahead after the first sector, Hamilton takes the lead in the middle sector, and they finish just 0.202 seconds apart after more than 96 seconds of racing.
On the current layout, Russell 2025 beats Norris 2024 by 0.367 seconds, even though Norris has the faster final sector by 0.058 seconds. Sainz 2023 finishes 1.826 seconds behind Russell.
How we built it
2018 to 2025: real car telemetry, with each pole lap split into 25 minisectors
2017: real sector times for Vettel's pole lap
2008 to 2016: official pole lap times only, with the pace through the lap estimated. These laps are marked with an asterisk in the video
Because of that, the overtakes among the 2018 to 2025 laps are real, while the older laps finish in the right order but their position during the lap is an estimate.
Watch the Singapore GP with us
We are live for every session of the Singapore GP weekend with live timing and telemetry on YouTube and Twitch. Qualifying is on Saturday 10 October, and afterwards we will show where the 2026 pole lap would have finished in this race.
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