Sebastian Vettel will start the Singapore Grand Prix from the front of the grid after claiming his 41st career pole position at the Marina Bay street circuit. The Red Bull driver was forced to endure a nervous last minute as he watched the final unfold from his team’s garage.
Vettel’s first run in Q3 had netted him a time of 1:42.841, six tenths clear of second-placed Mercedes man Nico Rosberg. As cars streamed out of pit lane for a second tilt at pole, the Red Bull Racing pit wall decided to gamble on the gap being sufficient and Vettel’s session was halted, thus saving a new set of supersoft tyres for the race.
But as team-mate Mark Webber lit up the timing screens with a session-best first sector and Rosberg and Lotus’ Romain Grosjean did the same in sector two, Vettel admitted that his nerves began to jangle.
“It’s a weird feeling,” he said. “You stand in the garage when there’s roughly two minutes to go in the session and you know it’s too late. But then it’s much worse when you see the others at the final attempt and you know there’s nothing you can do. I was watching the sector times very closely.”
And the result was close. Rosberg delivered an excellent final run to take five tenths out of his time from the first outing and he crossed the line just under a tenth of a second adrift of the Red Bull driver.
“It was very close in the end with Nico,” said Vettel. “That’s a great feeling, because it could go wrong but I’m very happy with the result. The car’s been phenomenal all weekend. Yesterday I think the gap was a bit of a surprise. Today’s been more what we expected – especially with Mercedes being very close behind.”
Rosberg, meanwhile, said he felt he could have found the tenth to steal pole.
“Sebastian has been really quick the whole weekend but it was very, very close in the end,” he said. “A pity, because one tenth more, with the way they gambled in the last qualifying, one tenth more would have been possible somehow. That would have been great but second place is still a good result, a great result. And it gives me a good position to start the race tomorrow. I’m also very confident about our race pace. It’s looking OK, so I think a great result is possible.”
The hour-long session began with a straightforward Q1 segment in which Paul Di Resta, Pastor Maldonado, Charles Pic, Giedo van der Garde, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton were eliminated.
With the midfield closely packed the battle to make it through to Q3 was tight and in the end just under three tenths of a second separated Jenson Button in 10th and through to the final segment and team-mate Sergio Perez 14th and out. Also eliminated was Nico Hulkenberg, who qualified in 11th place. If that was a surprise, due to the German being highly competitive in the earlier final practice session, it was even more of a shock to see team-mate Esteban Gutierrez sail through to Q3 in P7, the result of a superb final lap in the second segment.
Elsewhere, Jean-Eric Vergne in 12th, Kimi Raikkonen, 13th, Adrian Sutil in 15th and Valtteri Bottas in 16thwere all knocked out.
And so to Q3. At the front the battle was all about the Red Bulls, Mercedes and the sole remaining Lotus of Grosjean. Lewis Hamilton put the second Mercedes into fifth place and behind him Felipe Massa delivered a strong lap to qualify ahead of Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso for the fifth time this year. Alonso qualified seventh. Button is set to line up eighth for McLaren and the fifth row of the grid will be occupied by Daniel Ricciardo in ninth and Gutierrez in tenth place.
Quptes from Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel - Pole“It was a strange feeling at the end of Q3. It’s already strange when you stand in the garage with only two minutes left in the session, but much worse when you see the others making their final attempt and there’s nothing you can do! I was watching the sector times closely with Romain, Nico and Mark in particular. Mark started with a purple time in sector one, then Nico went purple in sector two and then Romain, but fortunately my last sector was fast enough to just stay ahead. It’s a great feeling as it could have gone wrong, but I’m very happy with the result. The car has been phenomenal all weekend. Yesterday the gap to the front was a bit of a surprise, but today was a bit more what we expected with the Mercedes being so close.”
Mark Webber - P4“I’m a bit disappointed to be fourth. It’s quite tight and there were some good lap times being set. We’re on the second row, it would have been better to have been on the front row, but it’s a long race tomorrow and we can do something from there. We’ve got a very good race car. It was hard to match Seb in the last sector; he’s always been strong in Turns 20 and 21.”
Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal“A really impressive performance from Sebastian today. Having been quick in P1 on the prime tyre, fast in Q2 on the softer tyre and setting an incredible first lap that put him 0.6 seconds clear in Q3, we elected to take a strategic approach to tomorrow and not do the second run to save a new set of soft tyres. In the end it was very tight with Nico, but once you’ve made your decision you’re committed. Mark was tremendously quick in Q1 on the harder tyres, which he’s been fast on all weekend. He progressed through Q2 with no issue and in Q3, despite going purple in the first sector, he just missed out on the clean side of the grid. But, nonetheless first and fourth is a great place to start tomorrow’s race.”
Thierry Salvi, Renault support for Red Bull“Sebastian took a risk sitting out the last lap, but nevertheless got pole doing only one run in Q3! The car was strong today and has worked particularly well on this city track, which features a lot of low speed corners where drivability and engine response are key. Pole in Singapore is very important on a track where overtaking is difficult.”
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:42.841 2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:42.9323. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:43.0584. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:43.1525. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:43.2546. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:43.8907. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:43.9388. Jenson Button McLaren 1:44.2829. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:44.43910. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:44.245
11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:44.55512. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:44.58813. Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:44.65814. Sergio Perez McLaren 1:44.75215. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:45.18516. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:45.388
17. Paul di Resta Force India 1:46.12118. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:46.61919. Charles Pic Caterham 1:48.11120. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1:48.32021. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:48.83022. Max Chilton Marussia 1:48.930
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