Vettel takes pole at Singapore Grand Prix
Vettel
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel put himself on pole position to retake the Formula One lead from Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel put himself on pole position to retake the Formula One lead from Lewis Hamilton with a sensational late lap in Singapore Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday (September 16).
Hamilton, who leads the German by three points with seven rounds remaining, qualified his Mercedes only fifth for Sunday's night race with team mate Valtteri Bottas set to start alongside in sixth.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen will start second for Red Bull, after going fastest in the first two phases of qualifying, with Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo third and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen fourth.
Vettel, who lost the lead to Hamilton at the previous race in Italy, is a four times winner in Singapore and the pole was also his fourth in the city state as well as the 49th of his Formula One career.
It was also his third of the season but he had to put everything on the line when it really mattered to beat the Red Bulls in a close-run session, lighting up the timing screens with a lap of one minute 39.491 seconds.
Red Bull had topped the timesheets in every session leading up to qualifying and had looked on course for their first front row lockout since the U.S. Grand Prix in 2013, with Verstappen also fastest in the opening two phases of qualifying.
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Had he been on pole, the 19-year-old would have been the youngest driver in the history of the sport to start from the top slot.
There were few smiles at Mercedes, with the champions arriving in Singapore fearing it would be a tough weekend but secretly hoping for better.
Hamilton, who took a record 69th career pole at Monza by a huge margin, never looked in contention.
Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Renault ahead of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, who put both McLarens in the top 10 a day after the former champions agreed to swap Honda power for Renault in 2018.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz, set to move to the works Renault team next year, rounded out the top 10 for Toro Rosso.
Starting grid:
1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari
2. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull - TAG Heuer
3. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull - TAG Heuer
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari
5. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes
6. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Mercedes
7. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Renault
8. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren
9. Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) McLaren
10. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso - Renault
11. Jolyon Palmer (Britain) Renault
12. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India - Mercedes
13. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) Toro Rosso - Renault
14. Esteban Ocon (France) Force India - Mercedes
15. Romain Grosjean (France) Haas - Ferrari
16. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) Haas - Ferrari
17. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes
18. Lance Stroll (Canada) Williams-Mercedes
19. Pascal Wehrlein (Germany) Sauber - Ferrari
20. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber - Ferrari