
Nico Rosberg claimed his seventh pole position this season for Mercedes at Marina Bay, as championship rival and team-mate Lewis Hamilton could only record third fastest time.
Hopes of a tight, multi-team battle for pole were dashed in Q2, as Red Bull and Ferrari – down to one car already after early problems for Sebastian Vettel – struggled to get within a second of Rosberg’s benchmark.
Rosberg was the only driver to make it below the one minute, 43 seconds time around the Singapore Grand Prix street circuit in Q3, and his first run proved enough to get the job done as he lapped in one minute, 42.584 seconds to claim P1 by over half a second.
Hamilton lost track time to a hydraulic valve problem in Friday’s practice session and has struggled under braking all weekend so far, and he endured a difficult time again in qualifying.
The two-time race winner trailed Rosberg by more than seven tenths of a second after his first run in Q3 and failed to improve on his second run.
That gave Daniel Ricciardo an opportunity to steal a front row start for Red Bull Racing, as the honey badger leapt to second with a superb one minute, 43.115 seconds effort at the end.
His team-mate Max Verstappen was fourth quickest, just 0.040 seconds down on Hamilton.
Kimi Raikkonen qualified his Ferrari fifth fastest, over six tenths down from Verstappen, while team-mate Sebastian Vettel was knocked out in Q1 after his Ferrari appeared to suffer a suspension failure.
Vettel initially tried to press on and drag a lap time out of the car anyway, before pitting for repairs but the team had no time to complete.
Ferrari revealed later on that it was an anti-roll bar problem which affected Vettel’s qualifying. The four-time Singapore Grand Prix winner and last year’s pole man will start the race last on the grid…
Carlos Sainz claimed a superb sixth for Toro Rosso, ahead of team-mate Daniil Kvyat (who only made one run in Q3) and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.
Fernando Alonso qualified his McLaren-Honda ninth quickest, fractionally ahead of Sergio Perez.
Force India’s Perez may yet face sanction for overtaking Esteban Gutierrez under yellow flags in Q2.
Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were P11 and P12, Bottas missing the Q3 cut by just 0.003 seconds, and both affected badly by those yellow flags after Romain Grosjean crashed his Haas at the Turn 10 left-hander.
Jenson Button damaged his McLaren-Honda’s left-rear wheel against the wall at Turn 14 on his final flying lap, so failed to improve and ended up P13.
Esteban Gutierrez was P14, just ahead of Haas team-mate Grosjean, whose crash also hindered Hulkenberg and Gutierrez at the end of Q2.
Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber rounded out the top 16, electing to save tyres knowing he could do no better after Vettel’s misfortune allowed him passage to Q2.
Ericsson made it through to Q2 with what he described as a “nice lap” at the end of Q1.
That put him almost four tenths clear of the Q1 dropouts, headed by Kevin Magnussen’s Renault, Felipe Nasr, and Jolyon Palmer, these three all covered by just 0.135 seconds.
Pascal Wehrlein was P20 for Manor, over six tenths up on team-mate Esteban Ocon, while Vettel’s broken Ferrari trailed the entire field, almost a second further back.

Qualifying standings, Singapore Grand Prix:
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m42.584s
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m43.115s
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m43.288s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 1m43.328s
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m43.540s
6 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m44.197s
7 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m44.469s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m44.479s
9 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1m44.553s
10 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m44.582s
11 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m44.740s
12 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m44.991s
13 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1m45.144s
14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1m45.593s
15 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1m45.723s
16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m47.827s
17 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m46.825s
18 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1m46.860s
19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m46.960s
20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1m47.667s
21 Esteban Ocon Manor-Mercedes 1m48.296s
22 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m49.116s

















