Sebastian Vettel produced a stunning effort to end Mercedes’ qualifying stranglehold to claim pole position for Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix.
The four-time world champion blitzed the Marina Bay circuit to post a 1:43.885s with his final lap to record his first pole position for Ferrari.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo emerged as Vettel’s nearest challenger as Mercedes struggled for pace.
The Australian had topped the times early in Q3 but he was unable to match Vettel, falling 0.543s adrift as he recorded his best qualifying result of the season.
Kimi Raikkonen confirmed Ferrari’s pace in third ahead of the sister Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat.
It proved to be a rare difficult day for Mercedes as they were restricted to the third row with championship leader Lewis Hamilton 1.4s adrift of Vettel, while Rosberg improved late on to secure sixth.
Williams Valtteri Bottas was seventh fastest with the top 10 completed by Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso), Felipe Massa (Williams) and Romain Grosjean (Lotus).
The Force Indias of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez missed out on the final segment of qualifying in 11th and 13th sandwiching the McLaren of Fernando Alonso.
Alonso’s team-mate Jenson Button just sneaked into Q2 but progressed no further with the Brit set to start from 15th on the grid behind the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz.
However, Sainz’s session came to a premature end when he brushed the wall in the second part of qualifying.
The Saubers of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson fell just shy of of progressing to Q2 along with the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado.
Manor will occupy the final row of the grid with Will Stevens just eclipsing his rookie team-mate Alexander Rossi.
Both cars underwent a gearbox change prior to qualifying which has resulted in five place grid penalties for the pair.
Result Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying
Position | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:43.885s | |
2 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1:44.428s | +0.543s |
3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:44.667s | +0.782s |
4 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/Renault | 1:44.745s | +0.860s |
5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:45.300s | +1.415s |
6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:45.415s | +1.530s |
7 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1:45.676s | +1.791s |
8 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1:45.798s | +1.913s |
9 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1:46.077s | +2.192s |
10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus/Mercedes | 1:46.413s | +2.528s |
11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1:46.305s | +2.420s Q2 |
12 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1:46.328s | +2.443s Q2 |
13 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1:46.385s | +2.500s Q2 |
14 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1:46.894s | +3.009s Q2 |
15 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1:47.019s | +3.134s Q2 |
16 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:46.965s | +3.080s Q1 |
17 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:47.088s | +3.203s Q1 |
18 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus/Mercedes | 1:47.323s | +3.438s Q1 |
19 | Will Stevens | Marussia/Ferrari | 1:51.021s | +7.136s |
20 | Alexander Rossi | Marussia/Ferrari | 1:51.523s | +7.638s Q1 |