Formula 1

Hamilton Beats Rosberg To Pole In Singapore Scrap

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Lewis Hamilton has gained a crucial advantage heading into tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix after pipping Nico Rosberg to pole position by the narrowest of margins. The Mercedes duo came under enormous pressure from Red Bull, Ferrari and Williams in the season’s closest qualifying session but Hamilton prevailed in the end, beating his title rival by seven thousandths of a second.

The warning signs were already there for the championship leaders in Q1 with Ferrari wrapping up a 1-2 in the first session. The threat early in Q3 came from another unexpected source with Felipe Massa clocking a 1:46.007 to go quickest in the Williams. Daniel Ricciardo slotted into second with Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen confirming Ferrari’s pole position potential by taking third and fourth. The two Silver Arrows languished in sixth and seventh although Rosberg had used a set of scrubbed super-soft tyres.

Ricciardo was the first to venture out for his final Q3 run and promptly knocked Massa off the top with a 1:45.854. Red Bull’s joy was short-lived though as Rosberg, now fitted with a brand new set of tyres, knocked two tenths off the benchmark time. Hamilton looked to be under pressure with a heavy lock-up at turn one threatening to scupper his chances but the Briton recovered superbly to set a 1:45.681, snatching pole by 0.007s.

Sebastian Vettel improved to fourth to secure a second row lock-out for Red Bull while Fernando Alonso relegated the former polesitter Massa to sixth. Kimi Raikkonen will line up seventh in the second Ferrari and was left to curse his luck when a loss of power on his final out-lap prevented him from challenging for pole. Valtteri Bottas was shuffled back to eighth in the second Williams while rookie pair Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat share the fifth row in ninth and tenth.

Jenson Button narrowly missed out on a Q3 place in eleventh with Jean-Eric Vergne also finding himself the wrong side of the cut-off point in the second session, leaving him twelfth. Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez could only manage thirteenth and fifteenth on a poor night for Force India, either side of Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber, but their mood was positively ecstatic compared to Lotus’ Romain Grosjean whose frustrations boiled over on the radio after qualifying sixteenth.

 

 2014 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX – QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION
POS DRIVER TEAM TYRE TIME 
1 44  LEWIS HAMILTON MERCEDES SUPER 1:45.681 Q3
2 6  NICO ROSBERG MERCEDES SUPER 1:45.688 Q3
3 3  DANIEL RICCIARDO RED BULL RACING RENAULT SUPER 1:45.854 Q3
4 1  SEBASTIAN VETTEL RED BULL RACING RENAULT SUPER 1:45.902 Q3
5 14  FERNANDO ALONSO FERRARI SUPER 1:45.907 Q3
6 19  FELIPE MASSA WILLIAMS MERCEDES SUPER 1:46.000 Q3
7 7  KIMI RAIKKONEN FERRARI SUPER 1:46.170 Q3
8 77  VALTTERI BOTTAS WILLIAMS MERCEDES SUPER 1:46.187 Q3
9 20  KEVIN MAGNUSSEN McLAREN MERCEDES SUPER 1:46.250 Q3
10 26  DANIIL KVYAT STR RENAULT SUPER 1:47.362 Q3
11 22  JENSON BUTTON McLAREN MERCEDES SUPER 1:46.943 Q2
12 25  JEAN-ERIC VERGNE STR RENAULT SUPER 1:46.989 Q2
13 27  NICO HULKENBERG FORCE INDIA MERCEDES SUPER 1:47.308 Q2
14 21  ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ SAUBER FERRARI SUPER 1:47.333 Q2
15 11  SERGIO PEREZ FORCE INDIA MERCEDES SUPER 1:47.575 Q2
16 8  ROMAIN GROSJEAN LOTUS RENAULT SUPER 1:47.812 Q2
17 99  ADRIAN SUTIL SAUBER FERRARI SUPER 1:48.324 Q1
18 13  PASTOR MALDONADO LOTUS RENAULT SUPER 1:49.063 Q1
19 17  JULES BIANCHI MARUSSIA FERRARI SUPER 1:49.440 Q1
20 10  KAMUI KOBAYASHI CATERHAM RENAULT SUPER 1:50.405 Q1
21 4  MAX CHILTON MARUSSIA FERRARI SUPER 1:50.473 Q1
22 9  MARCUS ERICSSON CATERHAM RENAULT SUPER 1:52.287 Q1
Q1 107% TIME: 1:54.152

 

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