Vettel Notches Another Pole in Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying

Sebastian Vettel has racked up yet another pole position despite stiff competition from MercedesMercedes-BenzGermany, 1924 > present197 models
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, especially Nico Rosberg. Vettel led the Q2 and Q3 qualifying sessions with ease and seemed constantly able to find time on the track where other drivers could not. He will start tomorrow next to Nico Rosberg in second, Romain Grosjean in third, Mark Webber in fourth and Lewis Hamilton in fifth.

The night race at Singapore brings something special to the later part of the F1 season. It does not hurt either that the track is one of the best street tracks anywhere. 

Hamilton led the Q1 session 1:44.196. Jenson Button was second fastest, but his time was 0.9 seconds slower than Hamilton. Fernando Alonso was third. 

At the other end of the grid, Felipe Massa almost did not make it out of Q1 and complained of handling problems in his FerrariFerrariItaly, 1947 > present233 models
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, but he ended 15th fastest in the session.

Times dropped quickly in the Q2 session. Rosberg did a 1:43.892 six minutes into the session. Hamilton did a 1:43.920. It appeared that Mercedes had mastered qualifying again. However, neither Red BullRed BullAustria, 2004 > present12 models
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had yet set a time in the session. Vettel came around and did a 1:42.905, nearly a second faster than Rosberg's fastest time in the session so far. Webber came around and did a 1:43.727, enough for second. These times stood through the end of the session.

McLarenMcLarenUnited Kingdom, 1963 > present92 models
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gambled big in Q2 and sent their cars out to do only one fast lap and lost. Sergio Perez was 14th fastest overall, and Button barely moved on to Q3 in tenth place.

Bad news for Kimi Raikkonen, though. He only made it to Q2 for the second race in a row.

With half of the Q3 session over, Vettel had a half second lead over Rosberg, but only five cars had set times. Vettel's time stood at the top through the end of the session, but Rosberg was able to put in an improved time and cut Vettel's lead down to just a tenth. Romain Grosjean put in a great drive to take third. Despite only barely making it into the Q2 session, Massa managed sixth to out-qualify Alonso in seventh.