Hamilton takes pole for Singapore GP

Published on 15 Sep 2018 16:00

By: Fergal Walsh

Lewis Hamilton has taken pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix 1:36.015, which is his seventh of the year. The Briton produced his fastest time on his first run in Q3, out-qualifying championship rival Sebastian Vettel by six-tenths of a second.

However, it will not be Vettel who will line up alongside Hamilton for the start of the Grand Prix on Sunday. Red Bull's Max Verstappen secured second place while Vettel could only muster third.

Vettel will share the second row with the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas. The Finn once again failed to match the pace of his teammate, ending the session almost seven-tenths down.

Ferrari's second car will line up on the third row as Kimi Raikkonen could only set the fifth fastest time. The Iceman couldn't replicate the pace he had two weeks ago at Monza, where he bagged his first pole position of the season. Daniel Ricciardo will start alongside him in sixth.

Sergio Perez produced an impressive final qualifying lap to claim the best of the rest spot. After the first run, Nico Hulkenberg claimed P7 but the German filtered down the order as the final session wore on. Hulkenberg will start tomorrow's race from tenth place.

Romain Grosjean continued his strong qualifying pace by placing his car in eighth, behind the Force India of Perez. Perez's teammate Esteban Ocon will share the fifth row with Hulkenberg, having claimed ninth position.

No drives succumbed to the barriers during the session, despite some giving the walls a slight tap. Outside the top ten, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz will be in strong positions tomorrow, as they have free choice of tyres to start the race on in eleventh and twelfth.

The tow Spaniards may choose to start the race on a harder compound and drive a one-stop strategy, while the drivers inside the top ten on the hyper soft tyre may be forced into a two-stop race.

Behind the all Spanish sixth row will be the Sauber duo, with Charles Leclerc heading Marcus Ericsson. Leclerc bounced back from his troubles on Friday when he hit the barriers, and managed to get the batter of his teammate by seven-tenths.

Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley will start from fifteenth and seventeenth, with Haas' Kevin Magnussen slotted in between the two Toro Rosso's. Magnussen complained following the session that he had no grip to push the car which caused his disappointing Q1 exit.

Stoffel Vandoorne once again failed to advance out of the first stage of qualifying, and only bet the Williams' of Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll, whose disastrous pace saw them qualify over 1.4 seconds down on Vandoorne.

Fergal Walsh