Singapore – Qualifications: Masterful Hamilton!

Hamilton on pole in Singapore: it seemed impossible. Yet, the Brit will indeed start from the first position tomorrow when the lights go out! The Ferrari was certainly the car to beat before these qualifications, but driver #44 made a big impact in the Singapore night. Everything was decided on the first flying lap of Q3, with a flawlessly executed lap. The Mercedes leader outpaced his rival, Sebastian Vettel, who is already on the brink with his 30-point deficit in the overall drivers’ standings. Third, the Ferrari competitor will even have Max Verstappen ahead of him at the start!

Q1: Magnussen, the disappointment

One of the most challenging qualifying sessions of the season opened under fair weather. Q1 took place on a dry track, although, of course, humidity was still very high, with a rate close to 75%! First on the track, the Haas drivers occupied the top of the standings for a few minutes before being toppled by Kimi Räikkönen, with a time of 1:38.534, on hyper-softs. A kind of warm-up on a track that rubbers in as the weekend progresses.

With 8 minutes left in the session, Daniel Ricciardo increased the pace, clocking in at 1:38.153, ahead of Vettel. At Mercedes, they attempted the gamble of running on ultra-soft tires, the “intermediate” compound for this round in Singapore. This choice was forced, as the German team was short on hyper-soft tires following free practice. No issues, however, in reaching Q2, despite a very disappointing ranking (Bottas, 12th at the end of the session, Hamilton 14th!).

At the bottom of the table, the traditional battle of the small teams began. Below the cut at 5 minutes were Vandoorne, Ericsson, Hartley, Stroll, and Sirotkin. It was a fight in which the Williams didn’t really participate, as Stroll was nine-tenths behind Hartley! On his last lap, Marcus Ericsson managed to escape the red zone, to the detriment of Kevin Magnussen, the disappointment at the end of Q1, especially considering Grosjean’s fourth place. The other mentioned drivers remained at the dock.

Eliminated in Q1: Magnussen, Hartley, Vandoorne, Sirotkin, Stroll

Q2: Ocon and Grosjean advance, not Alonso and Sainz

The difficult experience of Mercedes in Q1 did not impress Ferrari. Vettel and Räikkönen started the session on ultra-soft tires, unlike their thirteen peers. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen took advantage to set the fastest time, at 1:37.214, surpassing Lewis Hamilton immediately after. The Dutchman at that moment claimed the absolute track record, far ahead of the Scuderia cars. In 10th place, Vettel was forced to return to the pits to switch to hyper-softs, like Räikkönen, who didn’t even achieve a significant lap time.

For Ferrari, the serious matters began in the last run, with less than three minutes left in the session. Räikkönen set the fastest time, at 1:37.194 while Vettel secured a modest fifth time, hindered by some competitors who were preparing their own lap. Enough to still advance to Q3.

On the last lap, Grosjean moved into the top 10, overtaking Alonso, who himself had made a great effort, just ahead of Sainz. In 13th, Leclerc put a seven-tenths gap over Ericsson. Enough to confirm the abilities of the future Ferrari driver.

Eliminated in Q2: Alonso, Sainz, Leclerc, Ericsson, Gasly

**Q3: A Stratospheric First Lap and Pole Position for Hamilton!**

The top 10 of this final session is thus made up of the classic trio Mercedes-Ferrari-Red Bull, the French drivers Grosjean and Ocon, as well as Sergio Pérez and Nico Hülkenberg. Obviously, the fight for pole position was between the six main contenders, all heading out as soon as the light turned green. Out of the 10 competitors involved, Romain Grosjean was the only one waiting in his garage for a few

Additional moments.

The first lap time gave the advantage to Lewis Hamilton. And what a time: 1:36.015! An astounding lap, with the competition left trailing by three-tenths for Verstappen, and six-tenths for Vettel! Displeased, the German exited the pits in the lead, launching into his final run.

🔥 A scorching lap from Hamilton!

1:36.015s – P1 (7 mins to go)#SingaporeGP 🇸🇬 #F1 pic.twitter.com/RKAVhJwdln

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 15

Malgré la grosse attaque des uns et des autres, aucun pilote ne parvenait à déloger Lewis Hamilton, qui décroche sa quatrième pole à Singapour, la septième sur la saison, 79 au total ! Verstappen et Vettel restait deuxième et troisième. Derrière eux, Bottas, Räikkönen et Ricciardo. Pérez partira derrière ce beau monde en septième position, devant nos deux Français: Grosjean (huitième) et Ocon (neuvième). Hülkenberg complète le top 10.