Singapore Qualifying: Vettel trounces them all

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel delivered a couple of masterful laps to claim pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix in a tense and exciting session under the street lights of the Marina Bay Circuit.

Vettel was at his very best as he powered around in an astounding time of 1:43.885, which was 1.4 seconds faster than Lewis Hamilton's best which was only good enough for fifth place.

For Vettel it was his first pole since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix and his first as a Ferrari driver and the Maranello outfit's first since Germany 2012. Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest, suggesting that the Italian team have found a fine vein of form since the Monza appearance of their updated power unit.

"Unbelievable!" exclaimed Vettel afterwards. "I know it is only Saturday and the main job is tomorrow but I had to enjoy the moment. The car was fantastic to drive and got better through qualifying. Surprised by the margin, but it just came together."

Thus ended Mercedes dominance in a number of areas, including the end of a 23 pole streak, one short of the record set by Williams in 1992 and 1993.

Hamilton's consecutive front-row start streak ends at 20 and his consecutive run of top spot starts ends at seven, one short of the all-time record set by Ayrton Senna.

On the night, also slugging it out at the front were Red Bull, with Daniel Ricciardo claiming second place on the grid, albeit half a second down on Vettel, after a recovery from a relatively sluggish first sector to deliver an ultra-brave final sector on his last run in Q3. His teammate Daniil Kvyat, who has impressed all weekend, was fourth fastest.

Ricciardo summed up, "It is nice to be back up here. Being on the front row has been a while. It is good. It should be a good race tomorrow. To have no Mercedes up here was a surprise. I thought they were playing a few card games yesterday."

Like his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg simply did not have the firepower to challenge the pace setting quartet ahead, and he also fell short of Hamilton's best effort - the German will start from sixth.

Q1 saw Ricciardo make the early headway with a time of 1:46.805 but nine minutes into the segment Vettel jumped to the top of the timesheet, eclipsing the Red Bull driver by seven tenths of a second.

With just a few minutes remaining, most of the field opted to switch to thw quicker supersofts, including, unusually, the Mercedes drivers and Hamilton was quickly into P1 with a time of 1:45.765s.

The Ferraris though were still looking quick on the prime tyre and while Kvyat eventually took P1 on the supersoft with a time of 1:45.340, with Hamilton in P2, Vettel made it through to Q2 in third place with a time of 1:46.017, just 0.677 of a second off Kvyat and having only used the soft tyre.

Daniel Ricciardo also made it through to the second phase on the soft tyre and his time of 1:46.166 was good enough for fourth place ahead of Nico Rosberg. The only other driver to save a set of supersoft tyres was Ferrari’s Räikkönen who progressed in P8, behind Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz.

At the bottom end of the order the manors of Will Stevens and Alexander Rossi were eliminated in P19 and P20 respectively, with Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado and the Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr also exiting at this stag. McLaren’s Jenson Button made it through in P15, though he was just 0.074 ahead of Nasr.

At the end of Q2’s opening salvoes, Vettel was quickest, having vaulted to P1 with the last of the opening runs. The Ferrari driver’s 1:44.743 put him ahead of Kvyat, with Räikkönen third ahead of Ricciardo, Hamilton and Rosberg.

In the drop zone were Force India’s Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg in P11 and P12, followed by McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, Sainz and 15th-placed Button.

And at the end of the final runs none of them from P11 to P15 could find the pace to escape the drop, though Hulkenberg climbed to P11 with a lap of 1:46.305, though that was still four tenths of a second adrift of Valtteri Bottas’ P9 time.

Behind Hulkenberg, P12 went to Alonso ahead of Perez, Sainz and Button. Sainz prevented any further improvements when he clipped the wall and scattered debris across the track.

At the top of the order the Ferraris and Red Bulls opted to forego a second run, while Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen jumped to fifth ahead of Hamilton and Rosberg.

The first runs in Q3 saw Vettel quickest once more, with the German setting an opening run time of 1:44.305 to sit ahead of former Red bull team-mate Ricciardo who was three tenths adrift of the four-time world champion.

Räikkönen was third ahead of Kvyat with Rosberg fifth. Hamilton, meanwhile, was down in ninth place having run wide over a kerb at Turn Seven, an error that forced him to abort his first flying lap.

In the end, Vettel’s opening lap was good enough. Ricciardo improved but couldn’t pass the Ferrari driver’s benchmarch and he settled for second.

Vettel got down to a 1:43.885s, 0.543s clear of the Red Bull driver to take his first pole position since Brazil 2012. Raikkonen and Kvyat had to settle for third and fourth with Hamilton and Rosberg to start the Mercedes from row three. Behind them Bottas took seventh ahead of Verstappen, Massa and Grosjean.

[highlight ]Singapore Grand Prix, Marina Bay Circuit - Qualifying Result[/highlight]