Sebastian Vettel achieved his fifth pole position of the season with a supreme performance in qualifying around the Marina Bay street circuit.
The Red Bull Racing driver opted to do just a single Q3 run as his initial one minute, 42.841 seconds lap put him six tenths clear over his rivals. The triple world champion had also outpaced the pack by nearly a second in Q2.
Vettel’s casual approach to the top ten shootout almost proved costly, as first Mark Webber, then Nico Rosberg and Romain Grosjean all hinted at the top spot pace on their second attempt.
In the end, they all fell short. Rosberg’s Mercedes came closest, just 0.091 seconds down on Vettel, who is separated from team-mate Webber by Grosjean’s Lotus.
Lewis Hamilton was only fifth for Mercedes, while the Ferraris were down in sixth and seventh, with the departing Felipe Massa ahead of team number one Fernando Alonso again.
Massa had earlier only just made it beyond Q1 having encountered traffic at the wrong moment.
It emerged just before qualifying that Kimi Raikkonen was struggling with back pain and that Lotus had been sufficiently concerned to get reserve driver Davide Valsecchi prepared.
The Iceman only managed to qualify P13, lapping 0.7 seconds slower than team-mate Grosjean in Q2. It will be interesting if Raikkonen continues to take part despite his bad back.
Esteban Gutierrez was among the stars of qualifying as he put aside recent Saturday woes to reach Q3 for the first time. He was nearly knocked out in Q1 until a last-gasp effort was enough to get through.
As for his Sauber team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, he was completely overshadowed for once and will line up P11 on the Singapore Grand Prix grid.
Sauber was not the only team to have one driver either side of the Q2/Q3 divide.
Jenson Button sneaked into the top ten for McLaren by just 0.058 seconds and took eighth, while the under-pressure Sergio Perez was down in P14.
Jean-Eric Vergne was within 0.091 seconds of joining Toro Rosso team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in Q3 but will start P12, three places behind the Australian.
Gutierrez and Massa’s late laps in Q1 caught out Paul di Resta, who was already in the pits and was pushed back to P17. Team-mate Adrian Sutil only managed two positions higher.
Pastor Malonado was also knocked out in Q1, though Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas made it to Q2.
Caterham was again quicker than Marussia, Charles Pic coming out in front among the tail-end pack.
So, a dominant performance by the triple world champion. Just one flying lap to take pole position and a nervous wait for his rivals to beat him. No one came close to Vettel and it was fascinating if he can keep up this winning speed into Sunday’s race.
Qualifying positions for the Singapore Grand Prix:
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m42.841s
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m42.932s
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m43.058s
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m43.152s
5. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m43.254s
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m43.890s
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m43.938s
8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m44.282s
9. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m44.439s
10. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari No time set
11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m44.555s
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m44.588s
13. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m44.658s
14. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m44.752s
15. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m45.185s
16. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m45.388s
17. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m46.121s
18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m46.619s
19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m48.111s
20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m48.320s
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m48.830s
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m48.930s
107 per cent time: 1m51.489s
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel has admitted that his pole position tactic was took nerves as he did one flying lap, pitted and watched his fellow rivals to beat his time. No one was able to beat his time and so, Vettel scored his fifth pole of the season. Autosport.com has the details.
Sebastian Vettel admitted that he feared he might lose Singapore Grand Prix pole as he chose to wait in the pits after his first run.
The Red Bull driver had been six tenths of a second clear of his rivals following his first pole shot.
That convinced Vettel to save tyres rather than running again, but Nico Rosberg, Romain Grosjean and Mark Webber all came close to snatching pole from him.
“It is a weird feeling because you stand in the garage when there are two minutes left and know it is too late and see others on final attempts and there’s nothing you can do,” said the world champion.
“I was watching the sector times very closely. Mark started with purple sector one, Romain had a purple sector two but fortunately my last one strong enough to stay ahead. It was close with Nico.
“It was a great feeling because it could have gone wrong.
“Today is more what we expected, especially with Mercedes being very close behind.”
Vettel admitted he might have misjudged how much a second run would be worth.
“I knew we would have a cushion which is why we decided not to run again,” he said.
“What we don’t know is how much the track improves, plus the fact that if you run again you get more feel for the tyres and track.
“We thought it was good enough, in the end it was.”
Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen is determined to race despite his back problems. Autosport.com has the story.
Kimi Raikkonen is determined to race in the Singapore Grand Prix despite the back pain that left him only 13th on the grid.
An issue related to a trapped nerve left the Lotus driver in severe discomfort on Saturday with reserve driver Davide Valsecchi prepared to stand in before Raikkonen was cleared to drive in qualifying.
“This morning was very bad,” Raikkonen admitted.
“It was good that we drove in qualifying in the end but not the most nice.”
Raikkonen felt the pain in practice had cost him crucial qualifying set-up time.
“This morning I couldn’t really try, so we probably didn’t get done what we wanted with the car,” he said, “but at least we got the car on the grid and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”
Asked if he felt he would be fit for the race, Raikkonen replied: “We will race and see what happens.”
Red Bull’s Mark Webber has admitted his team-mate was too quick in qualifying. Autosport.com has the details.
Mark Webber admitted Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel was untouchable in Singapore Grand Prix qualifying.
The Australian looked as though he may threaten for pole position when the German refrained from attempting a second flying lap in Q3.
However, after matching Vettel in the first two sectors, a disappointing end to the lap consigned Webber to fourth on the grid – behind the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Romain Grosjean’s Lotus.
He subsequently admitted that he had not been expecting to realistically challenge for pole.
When asked what caused him to drop time in the final sector, Webber replied: “Nothing really, it was fine.
“Seb’s pretty much owned the last sector on the options the whole weekend. He’s been very, very strong in [Turns] 20 and 21.
“I didn’t think I was going to challenge him for pole.”
Webber admitted he was hoping for more than fourth on the grid, but conceded the likes of Rosberg and Grosjean had done a better job.
“I’m disappointed with fourth, but that’s where we ended up,” said Webber.
“It’s quite tight, there were a few good laps from a lot of people.
“[Starting on the] second row, we can do something from there.
“It’d be nice to have been on the front row, but we’re not.”
Nico Rosberg says he is surprised to have qualified on the front row alongside Sebastian Vettel for the Singapore Grand Prix.
The German came closest to toppling the current championship leader towards the end of the session, but was 0.091 seconds shy of beating his compatriot.
When asked as to how he was able to produce such a performance, Rosbeg said: “It’s very difficult to explain and I don’t know.
“I didn’t expect such an improvement, maybe track ramping up or cooling down, I am not sure.”
He is optimistic he can challenge Vettel in Sunday’s race on a circuit that he has excelled on in the past.
“I really like street tracks and I always go quick on them, so second place is still a good result and gives me a good position to attack tomorrow,” said Rosberg.
“If I can get by Sebastian, and the left-hand side has less grip than the right, then anything is possible.”
Team-mate Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth for the race, a major improvement on his 12th on the Italian Grand Prix grid, but the Briton remained downcast.
“I just wasn’t fast enough today,” admitted Hamilton.
“But clearly the car was quicker than I was able to get out of it. I will just have to do my best tomorrow.”
Source: Autosport.com
Championship rival Fernando Alonso has commented that the Ferrari’s recent qualifying performance as “sad”. Autosport.com has the news story.
Fernando Alonso declared Ferrari’s Singapore Grand Prix qualifying performance as “sad” after struggling to seventh on the grid.
He said that while there was no shortage of effort from Ferrari, it was clear its updates were not working.
“I think we need to be realistic and not be happy at all with the performance we did here,” said Alonso.
“We did the maximum bringing new parts to this race, they work in a way, but maybe not enough. We tried many things, we made many changes last night and today and the car was a little easier to drive.
“I think everyone is pushing in the same direction, and the gap is very big. So that is sad.
“I think we have to be happy with the work that the factory has done. They worked non-stop. It’s true we are not in the position we wanted in terms of performance but it’s not because they didn’t try the maximum.
“Our opponents are not watching television between the grands prix and are also improving.
“On a high-downforce circuit we were fourth fastest in Hungary. We come here and we are maybe fourth fastest in terms of the teams, and it’s sad news for us obviously but there is nothing we can do now apart from preparing a perfect race tomorrow.”
Alonso is sceptical about Ferrari’s chances of regaining any ground in the coming races.
“We will see if we can improve in the next few races, but I doubt it because before July we were around 0.8 seconds slower than our competitors and here we are 1.1s,” he said.
“It’s not like in Korea and Japan we will be in pole position by magic.”
As for his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, the Brazilian has said he cannot do any favors to help Fernando Alonso for the championship. Autosport.com has the story.
Felipe Massa believes there is little he can do in the Singapore Grand Prix to aid Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso’s Formula 1 title bid.
The Brazilian, who learned following the last race at Monza that he would be dropped in favour of Kimi Raikkonen next year, wants to focus on ending his Ferrari career strongly.
He will line up sixth on the grid, one place ahead of Alonso, and reckons Sebastian Vettel’s dominance means his own actions will not have an impact on the title race.
“To be honest, what help can I give? Sebastian is starting in first and I think Fernando needs to pray for an issue on Sebastian’s car,” Massa said when asked if he would continue to support Alonso given his own impending departure from the team.
“It will not be easy to finish in front of him [Vettel] and he [Alonso] needs something to happen to him. I don’t think I have a lot to do to be honest, so let’s try to do the best race I can.
“I want to finish my final seven races in the best way possible. To be honest, talking from my heart, I don’t know if Fernando needs my help.”
After struggling with his car’s balance in Friday practice, Massa was delighted to outqualify Alonso for the second successive race.
“Yesterday I was struggling massively. I didn’t know how to drive the car, I didn’t know where to go,” he added.
“I didn’t have the confidence in the car so we changed it completely for today. It was still not perfect for qualifying but it was good, and the balance was more the way I like.
“I managed to do a great Q3 and put together a great lap.”
Jenson Button says he finds it “scary” how far off the ultimate pace McLaren was in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Briton only completed one timed run in the final segment of qualifying, posting a lap 1.4 seconds adrift of pole man Sebastian Vettel, despite having achieved what he deems to have been the perfect set-up.
“I think in terms of what we did in qualifying with our set-up, I think we pretty much got it right,” he said. “But that’s pretty scary as we were one-and-a-half seconds off the pace.
“It’s tough when you don’t really think you could have got much more out of the car but you’re that far away from the front… pretty much our story of the year, so far.”
Button does, however, remain optimistic ahead of Sunday’s race, which normally runs to the full two-hour distance.
“It’s a tough grand prix for everyone, especially with its duration.
“It will also be difficult starting from eighth – the dirty side of the grid – which may hurt us, but that said, I reckon we should be able to pick up some decent points with a good strategy.”
Team-mate Sergio Perez fared less well in qualifying and lines up 14th position. He missed out on Q3 by 0.3 seconds after spending most of the period in the garage.
“We should have been in the top 10,” said the Mexican. “But on my out-lap I had a lot of traffic and to lose two tenths around here is very easy.
“We wanted to save our tyres as much as possible for the race, which is important, but tomorrow will be difficult starting from 14th.”
Source: Autosport.com
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton admits he underperformed during the qualifying session at Singapore. Autosport.com has the details.
Lewis Hamilton said he simply failed to produce the speed when it counted as he trailed Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in Singapore Grand Prix qualifying.
Although Rosberg came within less than one tenth of a second of beating pole position man Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton ended up down in fifth, a further 0.3s slower.
Hamilton said there was nothing wrong with his car, but that he had not delivered “a good lap”.
“The car has been OK this weekend,” he said. “It was good in P1, and P2 was so-so. Today we made some improvements again.
“The car has been good and Nico was able to show that today. Hopefully from there he should be able to get a good result, and I have to push to get myself up into the top three.”
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said he was not disappointed as the balance has always fluctuated between his evenly-matched drivers.
“When one of them gets a tiny advantage and gets ahead, it is very difficult to define,” he said.
“I think Nico this weekend was perhaps a little bit happier with the balance, got the car where he wanted for qualifying and perhaps Lewis didn’t.
“The differences are tiny. It is not one having a disaster and the other having a good day.
“It is just the normal variances you get – and quite frankly it is great to see both of them like that. If we have one driver dominating then it means the other one isn’t doing very well.
“We have two drivers doing very well, so from the team perspective having two drivers push each other like that is exactly what we want.
“Both have the same equipment, both have a very good team of engineers and mechanics, and I would like to see it swing like that on a regular basis so we don’t have a weak bit of the team.”
McLaren’s Sergio Perez has accepted that he under pressure to deliver results for the team this season. Autosport.com has the story.
Sergio Perez has admitted he is unhappy with his performance in the 2013 Formula 1 season amid question marks over his McLaren future.
The Mexican has scored 18 points this year compared to team-mate Jenson Button’s 38 and his place at the team is being evaluated even though boss Martin Whitmarsh has said the squad will “in all probability” retain the same driver line-up.
Perez accepts he must get the best out of the car at every opportunity to fulfil his potential even though McLaren has also struggled with an uncompetitive design.
“I have to say that I am not happy with my performance at all,” said Perez when asked to analyse his season by AUTOSPORT.
“The car and the year have been very difficult, we are still learning about the car so it makes things difficult.
“[In Singapore I went] from being P7 in practice three, looking quite good, and we went a little bit in the wrong direction, we lost two tenths and we are P14.
“My season looks worse on paper than it has been in terms of speed but I know very clearly that I have to improve and I am working to improve because once we get the car we have to be right in every single detail.
“Even though the car has not been there, we haven’t been good enough all together to maximise every single detail.”
Although he accepts the Mexican has faced a tough challenge, Whitmarsh wants to see more from Perez.
“It is not easy coming into a team and beating someone like Jenson who doesn’t often make mistakes, gets it right, is quick, knows how to work with the team very well,” said Whitmarsh.
“He has set himself ambitious targets, he will want to go further, we want him to go further.
“This is a year of learning for him. I am sure we haven’t seen the best of him yet, I am sure he strives to be up there and wants to beat Jenson.”
As well as suggesting there is more to come from Perez, Whitmarsh also said there was no possibility of junior driver Stoffel Vandoorne racing for the team next year.
“Yes, I think I can,” said Whitmarsh when asked whether he could rule out, absolutely, that Vandoorne would be one of McLaren’s race drivers in 2014.