Vettel clinches pole in Singapore

Sebastian Vettel has claimed his fifth pole position of the 2013 season after qualifying fastest for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Opting to do just one timed lap in Q3 after his initial lap of 1:42.841 put his over half a second ahead of those behind him, Vettel remained well ahead of his competition after finishing Q2 almost a full second ahead of the pack.

Vettel’s decision was a risky one though, and the Red Bull driver looked relatively uncomfortable during the dying minutes of qualifying as first Mark Webber, then Nico Rosberg, and finally Romain Grosjean all posted sector laps that looked like pole could be at threat.

Alas, none could string together a full lap quicker than that of the three times World Champion. Rosberg came closest, qualifying in second place just 0.091 seconds back on Vettel. Grosjean placed third whilst Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber, racing in his final Singapore Grand Prix of his career, will start from fourth.

After a string of strong qualifying places and pole positions this season, Lewis Hamilton would manage just fifth in his Mercedes, whilst the Ferrari’s on Massa and Alonso qualified sixth and seventh. In his final races with the Italian outfit, on a rare occasion Felipe Massa was able to out-qualify his teammate.

Jenson Button and Daniel Ricciardo make up eighth and ninth places whilst Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez sits in P10 after making it through to Q3 for the first time in his Formula 1 career.

Q2 looked to be threatening for not one but both McLaren drivers as Button and Perez sat outside the top ten with just minutes left in the session. A late lap from Button meant he would get himself into the top ten as the chequered flag fell on Q2 pushing Nico Hulkenberg into P11, whilst teammate Perez was unable to improve on his position and would drop out of qualifying too.

Kimi Raikkonen, who is struggling with back pain after an incorrectly fitted seat caused damage to his spine during free practice runs yesterday, was the ‘surprise’ drop out at Q2 whilst Adrian Sutil also failed to place his Force India within the top ten.

At the back of the grid, Paul di Resta was squeezed out of Q2 when Felipe Massa’s late qualifying lap in Q1 pushed the Force India driver into P17 with no time left to run again. Pastor Maldonado lines up in 18th with the Caterham’s of Pic and van der Garde just behind. The Marussia’s of Bianchi and Chilton make up the final two slots on the grid.

Full qualifying times and results can be found below. The 2013 Formula 1 Singtel Grand Prix starts tomorrow, Sunday September 22nd at 20:00 local time.