Ferrari's Charles Leclerc took the pole for Formula One's 2022 Singapore GP - a Grand Prix that was not run in the past two years due to COVID restrictions.

According to Ferrari, the qualifying session was one of the most complicated of the season as the the Marina Bay Street Circuit never really dried out because of the high humidity levels, after heavy rain had fallen since the third free practice session.

"With track conditions changing throughout, it was a tricky but exciting qualifying," said Leclerc. "We were very quick on the Intermediates in Q1 and Q2, then had to start again from zero on the slicks in Q3."

Pirelli chose the softest three tyres in the Formula 1 range for the fifth time this year.

"There were some damp spots of tarmac here and there and you really had to adapt to the track evolution," added Leclerc.

Leclerc now has nine pole positions in 2022 and 18 overall for the Monegasque driver's F1 career.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton followed closely behind Leclerc with Perez just 0.022 seconds behind Leclerc and Hamilton just 0.054 seconds behind the pole winner.

"I was pushing so hard and it was incredibly close," said Hamilton. "It was really difficult to get to a position where we could be fighting for first place and I just didn't have enough grip on the last lap."

Points leader and 2021 World Champion Max Verstappen qualified 8th after bringing his RB18 into the pits on his final qualifying lap as the Red Bull team was concerned about the amount of fuel they had used in the qualifying session.

F1 teams are required to provide a one-litre fuel sample to the FIA for inspection after qualifying.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Alpine's Fernando Alonzo rounded out the top five, respectively.

"It was a challenging qualifying today, one of the toughest of the season due to the conditions and the amount of traffic at a street circuit like this," said Sainz. "I think we did a decent session overall, but it's frustrating to see that a tenth and a half cost us four positions, especially after reviewing my fastest lap, which was looking very good for pole until a snap at turn 16."

AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly and teammate Yuki Tsunoda qualified seventh and 10th, respectively.

Kevin Magnussen put on an impressive ninth place qualifying effort for Haas Racing. Magnussen's second year teammate, Mick Schumacher, put on an equally impressive performance, qualifying P13.

"It's been looking positive all weekend but not this positive. P9 was a bit more than we were expecting but it's great because qualifying in Singapore is very important," said Magnussen.

"It's a very happy day today. The team performed their best under very difficult circumstances with the wet track, and every decision was almost perfect," said an elated Guenther Steiner, Haas Team Principal.

Leclerc led a wet FP3 session on the Singapore's Marina Bay Street Circuit earlier in the day.

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QUALIFYING RESULTS
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Pos	Driver		Team		Time	Gap

1	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:49.412	103.517 mph
2	Perez		Red Bull	1:49.434	0.022
3	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:49.466	0.054
4	Sainz		Ferrari		1:49.583	0.171
5	Alonso		Alpine		1:49.966	0.554
6	Norris		McLaren		1:50.584	1.172
7	Gasly		AlphaTauri	1:51.211	1.799
8	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:51.395	1.983
9	Magnussen	Haas		1:51.573	2.161
10	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	1:51.983	2.571
11	Russell		Mercedes	1:54.012	
12	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:54.211	
13	Schumacher	Haas		1:54.370	
14	Vettel		Aston Martin	1:54.380	
15	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	1:55.518	
16	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	1:56.083	
17	Ricciardo	McLaren		1:56.226	
18	Ocon		Alpine		1:56.337	
19	Albon		Williams	1:56.985	
20	Latifi		Williams	1:57.532	

(image provided by Aston Martin F1 Media)