SINGAPORE GP: Vettel beats both Red Bulls to secure his 49th poll position

For a while in Singapore on Saturday evening it looked as though Max Verstappen was set to become F1's youngest ever pole sitter. That was until the man who holds that record – Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel – stormed to his fourth P1 qualifying at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, beating the Dutchman by a clear three-tenths of a second.

Top Three: From L-R: Max Verstappen (2rd) RED BULL; Sebastian Vettel (1st) FERRARI; Daniel Ricciardo (3rd) RED BULL

It was a lap that left even Vettel breathless with disbelief that finally settled the situation in his favour as he fights to retrieve his previous championship advantage from points leader Lewis Hamilton, who finished fifth on the grid for Mercedes.


Daniel Ricciardo was third with a time almost identical to his Red Bull team mate’s, with Kimi Raikkonen taking fourth in the second Ferrari. Then came the silver cars of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, the McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, with Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz completing the top ten.

Daniel Ricciardo

Vettel pushed harder than ever and clipped his time to 1m 39.491s, and to that Verstappen had no reply as his 1m 39.993s lap failed to match his previous effort. Ricciardo improved fractionally, to stay third with 1m 39.840s, while Raikkonen was likewise unable to go quicker and stayed fourth ahead of Hamilton, who improved slightly to 1m 40.126s for fifth.

Sebastian Vettel

“I don’t know where I found the time,” Vettel admitted. “We struggled yesterday and also this morning. I’m still full of adrenaline so maybe what I saw makes no sense, but I love this track. The car was tricky but was getting better and better. I scraped the wall with my left rear, and I think I need to calm down, but I’m very, very happy. It’s amazing, on this track, and when you can feel the car coming alive you can do what you want.”

QUALIFYING RESULTS

POS. DRIVER             TEAM             TIME

1	SEBASTIAN VETTEL	FERRARI	1:39.491
2	MAX VERSTAPPEN	RED BULL RACING	1:39.814
3	DANIEL RICCIARDO	RED BULL RACING	1:39.840
4	KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN	FERRARI	1:40.069
5	LEWIS HAMILTON	MERCEDES	1:40.126
6	VALTTERI BOTTAS	MERCEDES	1:40.810
7	NICO HULKENBERG	RENAULT	1:41.013
8	FERNANDO ALONSO	MCLAREN	1:41.179
9	STOFFEL VANDOORNE	MCLAREN	1:41.398
10	CARLOS SAINZ	TORO ROSSO	1:42.056

SINGAPORE QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS