Lewis Hamilton took his fifth pole position of the season at Marina Bay, as the McLaren driver continued his mission to cut the points gap to his championship rival.
It was the 24th pole of his Formula One career and McLaren’s fourth straight top spot since Mika Hakkinen back in 1999.
Joining him on the front row is Pastor Maldonado, setting an impressive lap in the Williams. The Spanish Grand Prix winner managed to upstage defending world champion Sebastian Vettel.
The Red Bull driver was quickest in all three practice sessions at Singapore, but when it mattered in the all-important top ten shootout, Vettel was unable to repeat that speed and had to settle for third.
Jenson Button was fourth fastest ahead of championship leader Fernando Alonso and the Force India of Paul di Resta. Mark Webber was seventh quickest for the moment, but that may change as the Australian is under investigation for allegedly impeding Timo Glock during Q1.
Hours after qualifying, the race stewards have decided to reprimand Webber for leaving the track twice during his in-lap at the end of Q3. As for his impending over Glock, no penalty was given so the Red Bull driver will start Sunday’s race seventh on the grid.
Romain Grosjean, back after his one-race ban, recorded the eighth fastest time despite a scruffy qualifying session. The Lotus driver still managed to qualify ahead of the Mercedes duo of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, who both declined to set a lap time in Q3.
Grosjean, having set the quickest time of all in Q1, also tapped the wall with the rear of the car at Turn 14 at the beginning of Q2. He bounced back from his shunt though to go fourth fastest in Q2, behind Hamilton, Vettel and Webber.
The Lotus driver wasn’t the only one in the wall in that session. Bruno Senna damaged his suspension against the wall at the penultimate corner, the same place he’d brushed in Q1.
This was the third time the Brazilian had been in the barrier over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend and he will start Sunday’s race in P17.
Joining Senna were Nico Hulkenberg, Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.
Hulkenberg, Raikkonen and Massa in particular might have expected to progress further, but late laps from the Mercedes duo put paid to their hopes.
With news speculation surrounding Vitaly Petrov’s future at Caterham, the Russian put in a great effort in Q1. For most of it he looked like he might outqualify Toro Rosso’s Vergne and Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi on merit to move into Q2.
But both of those drivers would eventually move ahead of Petrov, who lines up P20 ahead of his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, as the Toro Rossos injected some super-soft pace at the crucial moment (Ricciardo was seventh fastest overall in Q1).
Kobayashi however dropped out early as he was already in the pits as the Toro Rossos recorded their lap times. From being at the sharp end of the grid at Spa to the bottom in Singapore.
As for HRT, Narain Karthikeyan managed to outqualified his team-mate Pedro de la Rosa for the second time in succession. By a margin of nearly a second, as the pair occupied the last row of the grid.
Qualifying positions at Marina Bay:
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m46.362s
2. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m46.804s
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m46.905s
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m46.939s
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m47.216s
6. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m47.241s
7. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m47.475s
8. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m47.788s
9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes no time
10. Nico Rosberg Mercedes no time
11. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m47.975s
12. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m48.261s
13. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m48.344s
14. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m48.505s
15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m48.774s
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m48.849s
17. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault no time
18. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m49.933s
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m50.846s
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m51.137s
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m51.370s
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m51.762s
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m52.372s
24. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m53.355s
107 per cent time: 1m55.226s
After setting the quickest time in all three practice sessions, Sebastian Vettel could only qualify in third position behind Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado. Autosport.com has the story.
Sebastian Vettel insists Red Bull had the pace to grab pole position despite missing out on the front row for the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver looked like favourite for pole having topped all the practice sessions this weekend, but could only take third position after failing to extract the maximum from his car.
Vettel admitted he could not fully explain his failure to match his early pace after finishing over half a second off pole position man Lewis Hamilton.
“Yes, a little disappointed, especially about Q3. I don’t know why we could not do the step,” said Vettel. “Third is a good position. It’s a long race tomorrow, a lot of things can happen.
“The pace is there but if you do not do the last step in qualifying it is a shame as the speed was there, but it didn’t come together in the end.”
The world champion said he was confident he would be able to get close to Hamilton’s times, but admitted he had already struggled for pace in Q2.
“I don’t know, to be honest. I think the speed was there but we were not able to really improve. I was confident we could go quicker, somewhere lower in the 1m46s region.
“In Q2 we could just not pick up the speed and in the end I was struggling to pick up the lap I did in the beginning. A bit disappointed but the speed is there, the race is long. It is important to be in the right place at the right time.”
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso believes a podium finish at the Singapore Grand Prix is possible. Autosport.com has the details.
Formula 1 championship leader Fernando Alonso reckons a podium finish is a realistic goal in the Singapore Grand Prix after only qualifying fifth.
Alonso admitted following practice that Singapore would not be a great circuit for Ferrari, and he was 0.8 seconds off polesitter Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren in qualifying.
“I think we must be happy with our position because we struggled all weekend,” said Alonso.
“We were not quick enough in free practice, and not quick enough in qualifying.
“I think the McLarens were unbeatable, at least for pole.”
Although he is concerned about Ferrari’s raw pace, Alonso believes there will still be opportunities to pull off a result in the race.
“Starting fifth, on the inside, we have a good position to fight for the podium, which is maybe the maximum for the weekend,” he said.
“I think strategy will be a good path tomorrow. We also saw degradation was an issue last year so we need to take care with the tyres, the pitstops and the start.
“Many things can play in tomorrow – like the weather, we always hear a thunderstorm is a possibility. Let’s see tomorrow.”
Pastor Maldonado is very confident he can stop his run of eight consecutive non-scores in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix after qualifying on the front row for Formula 1’s only night race.
The Williams driver, who won the Spanish Grand Prix in May from pole position, but has not scored a point since, stunned the field with a surprising lap in Q3 that put him on the front row, alongside pole-man Lewis Hamilton – a driver with whom he has clashed on three previous occasions in F1.
Maldonado admitted when asked about where he found the speed for his second GP front row start that it hadn’t been an easy weekend so far, and that it was the result of extremely hard work on set-up.
“I think we were working very hard because at the beginning of the weekend and during the practice we were a bit lost with the set-up,” he said.
“We were improving, especially in qualifying, and just trying to adapt the car to my style and we find naturally a very well balanced [car], especially in Q2 and then Q3.
“I’m really looking forward to the race because yesterday we showed very good pace, very consistent. So I think is going to be a good one for us this time!”
Maldonado added that while this is best starting position since his career high in Spain, it was difficult to draw comparisons in race potential between the two venues.
“It is completely different to Barcelona because of lack of grip,” he said. “We were struggling to put the car together but during qualifying we managed to find a good balance and really looking forward to tomorrow, yesterday we did a couple of long runs and it is looking good for us with tyre degradation.
“I think it is possible to overtake here especially because of tyre deg, I think everybody will be struggling with the tyres.
“But the strategy must be really good for everyone, you have to try to be consistent.”
Source: Autosport.com
After securing the team’s fourth successive pole position, Lewis Hamilton is hoping for a clean race against his front row driver in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix. Autosport.com has the details.
Lewis Hamilton says he hopes his Singapore Grand Prix front-row partner Pastor Maldonado does not take an “all or nothing” approach to the start and respects the fact he is among championship contenders.
Williams driver Maldonado has been involved in a number of incidents during the 2012 Formula 1 season, including a late tangle with Hamilton in Valencia.
Maldonado proved to be Hamilton’s closest rival in Marina Bay qualifying, and will start ahead of title protagonists Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.
“I am happy for Pastor, he has taken a lot of heat through the year and he is obviously very talented,” said Hamilton.
“I don’t want to get in his way and hopefully he doesn’t want to get in mine.
“As long as we get a good start we should be OK.
“I am sure he is aware that he has some championship contenders around him so it is not all or nothing and [he should be] getting some points for his team.”
McLaren arrived in Singapore having won the preceding three races in Hungary, Belgium and Italy – a run of form that has brought Hamilton up to second in the world championship, 37 points behind leader Alonso.
But despite starting four places ahead of the Ferrari driver on Sunday, Hamilton said he was still wary of what Alonso might achieve.
“We have to pull points from him because he has a good lead and I have close competitors behind me,” said Hamilton.
“He isn’t that far back and Fernando has shown that he can come from quite far back.
“We just have to worry about our job tomorrow and try to stay ahead.”
He added that he was always confident McLaren’s 2012 car had the kind of pace it is now showing.
“It is pretty intense but the team is doing an incredible job,” said Hamilton. “I have always said that if we can start in the same place as the others then we will be able to pull ahead and you are seeing the true pace in the car.”
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa thinks a points finish for Ferrari will be difficult. Autosport.com has the news story.
Felipe Massa thinks it might be hard for him to finish in the points in the Singapore Grand Prix after struggling in qualifying.
The Ferrari driver failed to match the pace of team-mate Fernando Alonso and was knocked out in the second qualifying segment.
Massa will start from 13th position, eight places behind the Spaniard.
The Brazilian said he was struggling with his rear tyres during the final part of the lap, and he is aware that the race will be very hard if the team does not find a way to fix the problem for Sunday.
“It was a very difficult qualifying,” admitted Massa. “I really struggled to put together a good lap, suffering particularly in the final sector, where the rear tyres were sliding and, as a result, were degrading.
“It’s a problem I’ve had since yesterday and we did not manage to fix it.
“Let’s hope we can do something for the race, otherwise it will be really hard.
“We must look carefully at the strategy, starting with which tyre to use for the start of the race: there’s a lot of difference in speed between the two compounds, but both seem to degrade significantly.
“The aim will be to finish the race in the points, which definitely won’t be easy, but we’ll give it our best shot.”
Ferrari did not use its new rear wing in Singapore after inconclusive results in Friday practice.
“Not all the updates we brought here worked as we had expected and hoped for, which certainly hasn’t helped,” said Massa.
“So we must understand why with a view to the rest of the season.”
Sauber admitted that its lack of performance during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend was due to its latest upgrade package failing to pay off, following a poor qualifying performance.
Two weeks after Sergio Perez’s near-victory in the Italian Grand Prix, Sauber has been off the pace throughout the Marina Bay weekend.
Perez will start 14th, while his team-mate Kamui Kobayashi – who had expected a good weekend – could not make it beyond Q1 and starts 18th.
“We have obviously had a difficult weekend here in Singapore,” said Perez.
“The main issue is that for some reason we didn’t get our new package to work. This comes as a surprise because so far all the development steps have paid off. There is a lot of downforce missing.
“My last lap in Q2 was clear and I think I got the most out of it. We have tried a lot to improve the car’s set-up and everything else, but it didn’t work out.”
Kobayashi added that he had “no confidence” in the car.
“We have tried everything but could not get rid of the huge oversteer,” he said. “I have no confidence in the car and this is really the last thing you want to have to cope with on a street circuit.
“The problem I have here reminds me somehow of the one I had at the Hungaroring, where I also struggled with the car.
“Given how the car is, I don’t see how I can recover in the race from where I am starting, but I will not give up, this is certain.”
Head of track engineering Giampaolo Dall’Ara said Sauber now understood why it had gone backwards, but that it could not be rectified on-site.
“The qualifying told the truth of where we stand,” he said. “On the positive side we were able to identify where the problem comes from. Nevertheless we cannot solve it here.”
Source: Autosport.com
McLaren’s Jenson Button has admitted he has yet to find the perfect sweet spot when setting up his race car. Autosport.com has the details.
Jenson Button admitted he still had not ‘found his feet’ with McLaren’s Singapore set-up.
The Briton was half a second off his pole-winning team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s pace as he qualified fourth for Sunday’s race – and conceded he currently looks unlikely to fight for victory.
“I found it tough,” Button said. “I am struggling, not finding my feet with the car, and with my timed lap with the rear going away quite quickly.”
He said that unless the car felt more comfortable in race conditions, a win was out of the question.
“You can hope for a win from there but the pace wasn’t there in qualifying for me so I hope the car is better in the race,” Button said.
Hamilton has shown strong form all weekend, which Button said showed the difference between finding an ideal set-up for the tyres and circuit conditions, and not being fully comfortable.
“I think Lewis has found a good set-up and it works for him but for me it is not so good,” said Button.
“I think you can see that through [Pastor] Maldonado. I think they have got it together and you wouldn’t expect them to be so quick. If you get the right balance for the tyre you can be quick.
“I think it is very tricky as we have high degradation on the super soft but on the soft it is much more consistent.
“What is funny is that we are not wearing out the tyre quickly, we are just losing grip.”
Red Bull driver Mark Webber has been given a reprimand for leaving the track twice during his in-lap at the end of Q3.
While stewards decided to take no action against Webber after claims that he impeded Marussia driver Timo Glock during Q1, he was unable to offer them “justifiable reason for deliberately leaving the track.”
This was in breach of Article 20.2 of the FIA F1 Sporting Regulations, which state that “Drivers must use the track at all times. For the avoidance of doubt the white lines defining the track edges are considered to be part of the track but the kerbs are not.
“A driver will be judged to have left the track if no part of the car remains in contact with the track.
“Should a car leave the track the driver may rejoin, however, this may only be done when it is safe to do so and without gaining any advantage. A driver may not deliberately leave the track without any justifiable reason.”
The final sentence of that rule was added to the Sporting Regulations at the start of the 2012 season.
The stewards, which include Audi Le Mans star Allan McNish, offered a detailed explanation of why Webber was not deemed to have impeded Glock after emerging from the pits while the German was on a flying lap.
“On the lap of the alleged impeding, GLO braked at T1 earlier than his previous best lap in that session,” said the stewards report.
“By the apex he was 0.105 econds slower. At the apex of T3 where the alleged impeding occurred (where WEB was in front of GLO) GLO was 0.090 seconds slower than his previous best.
“GLO overtook WEB at the exit to T3 on the racing line, braking into T5 earlier than his previous best lap and was now 0.198 seconds slower.
“At the end of Sector 1 (ie after T6) GLO’s delta time over his previous best was 0.380s seconds slower.
“Accordingly from the telemetry it is concluded there was no time lost whilst behind WEB – the time loss was before and after the alleged impeding.”
The stewards added that Webber had no way to see Glock on track when he left the pitlane and that a review of the GPS system showed that Red Bull did not have the information needed to warn the Australian about him.
Marussia and Glock did not present any evidence to the stewards.
Source: Autosport.com
After a poor practice session, Paul di Resta was left feeling thrilled after qualifying in an excellent sixth position. Autosport.com has the details.
Paul di Resta said he was thrilled and relieved to qualify sixth for the Singapore Grand Prix after fearing he had lost his Friday pace during final practice.
Force India had been quick throughout the Singapore weekend but di Resta was extremely unhappy with the car’s handling on Saturday afternoon.
“Alarm bells were ringing a little this morning in FP3 because we had quite a good car yesterday, but then struggled quite badly in that session,” said di Resta.
“In all three runs I was the best part of a second off Nico [Hulkenberg], so it was clear something wasn’t right, and we hadn’t changed things much.
“So we went back to a baseline for qualifying and that dramatically improved things and put us a step in front again.
“Yesterday we were close, and in qualifying we were able to regain our confidence, work away and improve each time we were on track.
“I saved the best lap to the end, which was good, and I always found little bits as the track improved.”
Di Resta thinks he will be able to hold position in the race, despite the row-five starting Mercedes choosing not to run in Q3 to get a tyre strategy advantage for Sunday.
“We have been stronger than the Mercedes this weekend in general,” said di Resta. “Whether that will carry on is another thing, but they chose not to run [in Q3]. I think we have a good enough car to be able to stay in front of them.”
The Force India drivers had been well-matched on Friday but Hulkenberg only qualified 12th – leaving him unhappy with the team’s strategy.
“The first run in Q2 was pretty compromised,” said Hulkenberg.
“We went out a bit late and then all the guys who were already on hot-laps, I had to let past, so the tyre temperatures and pressures dropped enormously.
“Starting the lap, I couldn’t really get a feel for the car or where the grip level was, which then affected the start of the second lap. You don’t have a reference, you don’t know where the grip’s going to be.
“So the first sector was not good enough, and the rest of the lap was not good enough either.
“It’s a shame because we had a Q3 car today, for sure, and that’s why I’m not happy at all.”
Romain Grosjean has no regrets about his wild final lap in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix – despite only ending up eighth on the grid.
The Frenchman had looked set for a place near the front after showing strongly in Q1 and Q2, but a slide at Turn 9 in Q3 and a big lock-up into the chicane cost him valuable time.
But despite not showing the full potential of the Lotus on what has been a difficult weekend for the Enstone team, Grosjean felt that he did the right thing in attacking so hard on that final lap.
“If you look at the Q2 laptime, the pace was good for third or fourth – and we were just one second from the top,” explained the Frenchman.
“And you know in one second you can have a lot of cars, so we had to try something in Q3. The lap was okay until Turn 8 but then in Turn 9 I had a big wheel spin for some reason.
“We lacked some grip in the last part of qualifying, and everyone managed to improve but we didn’t. Anyway – 47.6, 47.5 in Q2, so 47.4 in Q3 does not change much.”
Lotus reverted to some aerodynamic specifications that had been so successful at Budapest on Saturday in a bid to try and understand why its recent pace had appeared to drop off in recent races.
Grosjean believes that moved had helped the team, which should assist its planning for the next race in Japan.
“It is not a night and day difference, but it was the safest option when you don’t know,” he said about the change.
“I don’t think we have seen as much difference as we wanted, but hopefully we understood a bit more and for Suzuka we can put the right pieces on.”
Source: Autosport.com
After qualifying in fifth position, championship leader Fernando Alonso is getting concerned that Ferrari must improve its form in order to win the title. Autosport.com has the news story.
Fernando Alonso says Ferrari “must” improve its form for the upcoming races after a disappointing weekend in Singapore so far the Italian squad.
Alonso, who said before the weekend that he expected Ferrari to be competitive this weekend, qualified down in fifth position, nearly a second off the pace in a car not as strong as his main rivals’.
The championship leader, 37 points ahead of Singapore poleman Lewis Hamilton, admitted Ferrari cannot afford to go into the back-to-back races in Japan and Korea with such a big pace gap to its rivals.
“I was expecting more on Thursday when I got here because you think it can be a better circuit for you,” said Alonso. “But after yesterday we saw we weren’t as quick as in Monza right from the first laps.
“So being fifth today is probably a bit better than the average this year.
“But we have to score points tomorrow and then we must improve for Suzuka and Korea, because you can’t be 1.5 seconds behind your rivals.”
Nonetheless, Alonso said Ferrari could be pleased with his qualifying performance given his car’s form at Marina Bay.
“I think we can be satisfied,” he added. “We haven’t been very quick all weekend so fifth is probably the maximum we were hoping for.
“Fifth here is probably better than fourth because you start from the clean side and it can be important. So it’s been a good day.
“But anyway, not being in the fight with the best all weekend has been the worst news.”
Alonso remains open about his chances of finishing on the podium on Sunday, but he admits the first priority is to finish the race.
“We’ll see how the race goes. The important thing is to have a good race and score a lot of points. The top priority is to finish the race, and if the others are faster we’ll have to congratulate them.
“It’s going to be very open and we’ll have to be there knowing we need points.”