Norris said: “I found it difficult to make much progress and the guys around me kept getting faster and putting me under pressure. But it was good enough for pole. I felt confident all weekend. Maybe not so much in qualifying but we managed it.”

Verstappen, who was unhappy with his car in Friday’s practice, said: “The whole qualifying went quite well. We managed to improve the car.”

“Considering where we started yesterday, I’m happy to be on the front row. Everyone only has one lap, so you don’t want to overdo it. I’m second, so I’m happy with that.”

Hamilton’s third place is his best qualifying since he started second on the grid at the British Grand Prix.

He said: “Qualifying has been a disaster for me all year and I worked and worked and worked to get back to the front and suddenly the car came to me in qualifying for the first time in a long time.

“The overall standings have been up and down. We changed everything and the mechanics worked perfectly. I hope that tomorrow we will be in a good position to fight for the top.”

Hamilton overtook Russell by just 0.026 seconds, while Piastri was 0.428 seconds slower than Norris.

The Australian has promised to support Norris in the title fight against Verstappen if possible. However, this will be difficult as he has to start three places behind the Red Bull.

Leclerc had been battling with Norris for the fastest time all Friday, but said Ferrari had a problem with the blankets used to warm the tires to the right temperature.

“This is our result of very poor work today,” said Leclerc. “For whatever reason – I don’t know if it was our mistake or a component failure – the ceiling didn’t work properly.”

“We had completely cold front tires and were never able to get the temperature back up properly. We went into the first corner, braked, locked the front tires, hit the track barriers and that was it.”

“Considering how important this is in Singapore and how much work we’ve put in to be ready in the third quarter, I think it’s pretty crazy that we’re doing something like this.”

But team boss Frederic Vasseur said that although the tires had lost some temperature in the pit lane, they were in the right window when Leclerc started his flying lap.

Vasseur added that Leclerc went too wide in the first corner: “You know you only have one lap, you have to push hard, you’re on the limit and he crossed the finish line by a few centimetres. That’s part of the game.”

Sainz, meanwhile, was fined €25,000 (£21,000) for leaving the track and pit lane without permission after his accident.