Hamilton Takes Pole in Tightly Competitive Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying

Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG

There is only six races remaining on the 2014 Formula 1 schedule as teams proceed into a two-race Asian tour. A unique event on the Formula 1 calendar, the Singapore Grand Prix contents the challenge of being a street circuit and a night race for the 22 drivers. In Saturday's time trials, the 5.07-kilometer Marina Bay Street Circuit provided a rather surreal thriller.

Qualifying under the nights on the Marina Bay Circuit overall provided one of the most pleasing outings of the season for Formula 1 onlookers wanting to see more parity among the teams. The time difference between first through ninth in qualifying was separated by a 0.569-second margin. Coming as the most interesting occurrence in the first two qualifying sessions was who topped the time charts following those rounds. In Q1 and Q2, the Scuderia Ferrari team led the way with Kimi Raikkonen topping the first and Fernando Alonso leading the second. The weekend has already proven optimistic for Ferrari as both race cars matched the pace the team demonstrated in the practice sessions. However, Mercedes AMG surged back into their customary leading role in 2014 Formula 1 qualifying by taking the top spot in the most important Q3 round.

Photo Credit: Andrew Hone Photographer/Pirelli

2009 Singapore Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton took pole at the Marina Bay Street Circuit with a 1-minute, 45.681-second lap time. The entire Q3 session was a contest where the biggest gain came from a small advantage. The difference between Lewis Hamilton and second-place qualifier Nico Rosberg was a mere 0.007 seconds. With the Mercedes AMG Formula 1 cars in a virtual dead heat after qualifying was settled, the start of the Singapore Grand Prix will be another hotly contested affair between the teammates and 2014 title contending rivals.

In third and fourth place, Red Bull Racing continues to follow the Mercedes AMG cars but has mounted one of the most aggressive fights against the German factory team. A little more than one-eighth of a second slower than Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo placed his Red Bull-Renault behind Hamilton for the main event. Sebastian Vettel was a shade slower than his teammate settling with a fourth-place qualifying effort. So far still winless in 2014, Vettel has won the Singapore Grand Prix for the past three seasons.

Performing some stunning runs on the earlier rounds of qualifying, the Ferrari cars both enjoyed a mid-mark efforts in the Q3 sessions. Fernando Alonso will start fifth while Kimi Raikkonen has mounted a seventh-best time in his Ferrari. The Williams team cars sandwich Raikkonen's Ferrari as Felipe Massa is planted in sixth while Valtteri Bottas obtained eighth on the grid. Rounding out the top-10 on the grid for the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix is Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat.

A 61-lap race, the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix will be held at 8 PM local time (translating to 8 AM Eastern time).



2014 Formula 1
Singapore Grand Prix
Starting Grid

Pos #	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	Renault
4	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	Renault
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	Ferrari
6	19	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes-Benz
7	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams F1	Renault
9	22	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren	Mercedes-Benz
10	26	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault
11	22	Jenson Button	McLaren	Mercedes-Benz
12	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
14	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber	Ferrari
15	11	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Renault
17	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber	Ferrari
18	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	Renault
19	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia	Ferrari
20	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham	Renault
21	4	Max Chilton	Marussia	Ferrari
22	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham	Renault