Singapore Grand Prix qualifying report

McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton has secured pole position for tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix, edging out the Red Bull of German Sebastien Vettel by just over three tenths of a second. However the Englishman was assisted by a red flag in the dying moments of the final session whilst nearest rivals Vettel and Rosberg were both on laps that could have threatened his position. Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference he said;

“It’s absolutely fantastic, I’m very happy and very pleased for the team. We came with updates, as did everyone else, so we didn’t know where we would be. Friday practice wasn’t spectacular for me but I came in with a positive approach and big thanks to the guys, they worked up until 10am this morning rebuilding the car. I’m pleased to have done this for them. I’m feeling more comfortable in the car and we’ll see what happens with the strategies.”

Williams driver Nico Rosberg enjoyed a very productive session as he managed a superb third place on the grid, and far ahead of his Japanese teammate. The second Red Bull of Mark Webber will line-up fourth on the grid ahead of the Renault of Fernando Alonso – last years controversial winner. Rounding out the top six was an impressive performance by Timo Glock in the Toyota giving the Japanese car maker some hope for a good result tomorrow.

The session was difficult for championship leader Jenson Button who did not even make it to Q3, with teammate Rubens Barrichello just managing to make the final session after a last-gap effort in Q2. Unfortunately this achievement was not as positive as it could have been as the Brazilian and his team were forced into a gearbox change which will automatically drop him five places on the starting grid tomorrow. Barrichello compounded his problems by crashing into a wall during the final qualifying session leaving the Brawn team with a huge job to replace the right hand side of the car before the race begins tomorrow. Reacting to the poor session from both his drivers team principle Ross Brawn said;

“It’s a disastrous session for us. We underestimated the competition in second qualifying because we used one old set, then one new set, and didn’t get the car balanced well on the new set. We were perilously close to losing both cars in that session. The shoot-out wasn’t bad, looking at the fuel weights, but that topped it off for us. With Jenson dropping out of third qualifying, Rubens had the maximum chance to get some points on Jenson. We’ll have to see what we can recover on Sunday.”

Ferrari had a torrid session as Kimi Raikkonen could only squeeze 13th position from his red car, with new boy Giancarlo Fisichella managing a dismal 18th. In a post-race interview with the BBC he complaining of not yet being used to the way his Ferrari handled compared with the Force India he has been driving all season thus far.

Final Singapore Grand Prix qualifying positions

* Rubens Barrichello has gained a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change.