Nico Rosberg took the pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, ahead Daniel Ricciardo in Red Bull. The championship leader Lewis Hamilton qualified only 3rd with 0.7 s. off the pace of Nico. The German did a fantastic first lap in Q3 – 1:42.584. A time nobody could beat. Daniel Ricciardo was able to jump Hamilton with his second lap. Max Verstappen finished fourth, ahead of Kimi Räikkönen in Ferrari.
Vettel out in Q1
The leading Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel dropped out in Q1 and will start form the back of the grid. He had a suspension failure. Hamilton ran wide at Turn 1 as he started his final lap and after that locked up under braking for Turn 13, ending his hopes of challenging.
But Red Bull was the only team to post its fastest Q2 lap times on the supersoft tyre, with all other drivers using the ultrasoft compound. Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat proved Toro Rosso’s strong free practice form in sixth and seventh in Singapore, ahead of the Force India drivers and Fernando Alonso’s McLaren-Honda.
Sergio Perez penalised
Nico Hülkenberg took eighth, while Alonso classified ahead of Sergio Pérez. At the end of Q2, replays showed that Perez overtake a car under yellows. After the Qualifying, he handed a combined eight-place grid penalty.
Jenson Button was unable to follow team-mate Alonso through to Q3. He tapped the wall and picked up a left-rear puncture on his final lap, which forced him to pull off the track.
Williams outside of top 10
Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa both narrowly missed out on Q3 after being forced to back off under yellow flags, waved in response to Romain Grosjean’s late crash. The Haas driver locked the rear wheel under braking and slid into the barriers, which delayed pole position shootout by 10 minutes, as track officials had to repair the track.
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF QUALIFYING)#SingaporeGP ?? #Quali pic.twitter.com/fthVkDbRRv
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 17, 2016
