Max Verstappen accused Lando Norris of causing him to miss out on a chance of pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix before warning his rival that the incident “will be remembered”.

With Norris and his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri surprisingly out of contention for pole position at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Verstappen was attempting to knock Mercedes’ George Russell off top spot in the closing stages of the session when he came up behind the Brit in the final sector.

Verstappen felt that Norris, who was on his way back to the pits having already completed his final flying lap, could have made more effort to leave a clear path for the Red Bull, with the Dutchman believing turbulent air from the McLaren caused him to make an error at the final chicane.

Immediately after Verstappen’s lap, his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase told the reigning champion over the radio: “You can thank your mate for that. Hard luck.”

Verstappen responded with an expletive, before explaining his version of the incident in his post-session interview.

He 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.

“So that was a bit of a shame, otherwise I think it could have been close for pole.”

Verstappen ultimately had to settle for second, but he did at least have the consolation of qualifying ahead of the McLarens as he seeks an unlikely comeback in his quest for a fifth successive Drivers’ Championship.

Verstappen has won the last two races to reduce his deficit to leader Piastri to 69 points, while he 44 points back from second-placed Norris.

Asked whether he would try to talk to Norris about the incident, Verstappen added: “No. I think it’s quite clear that it’s something that’s not nice. We are always quite good at that, all the drivers, we try to stay out of the way.

“Sometimes, of course, it’s always a bit more complicated in certain scenarios so every scenario is a bit different but in this case in Q3 with only 10 cars on the track I think it could have been avoided.”

Norris: Red Bull complain about everything

Norris dismissed Verstappen’s complaints over the incident, as he said Red Bull “complain about everything”.

“They always complain. They complain about everything. That’s Red Bull,” Norris said. “I didn’t even know.

“I was like three seconds ahead.

“I can’t work it out.”

Sky Sports F1 pundit and former world champion Jenson Button said he understood where Verstappen was coming from but believed Norris had done “nothing wrong”.

“I get where Max is coming from,” Button said. “You’re trying to maximise everything and building up to it.

“It was looking close, it would have been very difficult to take it off George.

“There are no rules against that, there’s nothing wrong with Lando doing that. It’s just frustrating for the driver behind because he’s lost a bit of downforce.”

Sky Sports F1’s Singapore GP schedule

Sunday October 5
8.20am: F1 Academy Race 2
11.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Singapore GP build-up
1pm: THE SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX
3pm: Chequered Flag: Singapore GP reaction
4pm: Ted’s Notebook

The 2025 Formula 1 title fight continues under the lights at the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime