Vettel claims Singapore pole in stunning fashion
singapore — In an exciting quali- fying session at the Marina Bay cir- cuit in Singapore, Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel secured pole position for the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix with an astonishing lap, set- ting a new track record.
The four-time World Champion was followed by the two Red Bull Racing drivers Max Verstappen qualifying second and Daniel Ricciardo who qualified third.
The German’s pole position lap of 1 minute 39.491 seconds is the fast- est lap ever around the Singapore circuit, after Ricciardo who as the first one to break the record on Friday with a fastest best of 1 minute 40. 852 seconds in the second free practice session. Vettel pole lap was 0.323 seconds clear off the Red Bulls, more than half a second quicker than the Mercedes, and 3.1 seconds faster than last year’s pole lap.
Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen had an end minute brush with the wall on his final attempt of the third session of qualifying, missing the top three by a whisker and had to settle for fourth spot on the grid.
Lewis Hamilton struggled to finish in the top four and was only able to place himself as high as fifth place, despite the extra power mode advantage. The Mercedes are in third row for the first time this season, with Valterri Bottas sealing the final spot of the row with the sixth fastest time of the session.
Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg qualified seventh, and was followed by McLaren’s Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard’s team-mate followed him by clocking the ninth fastest time, while his Spanish counterpart Carlos Sainz sealed tenth spot, to complete the top 10 of the grid.
A critical question every spectator would want to know is why the Mercedes struggled so hard? The answer is simple, this street circuit and its warm temperatures have been the biggest challenge for the Silver Arrows squad since their inception as a team, when it comes to the cooling in the car and tyre management.
Marina Bay is the least powersensitive circuit, and can be physically demanding on the drivers, and a better engine does not make much of a difference, but a welldesigned chassis does.
A clear inference from the free practice sessions and qualifying has been how the Red Bull cars have been leading the pack, and the McLaren’s who have had the worst engine could place the car as high as P3 on the time-sheets. On the current grid, if the car chassis had to be rated the Red Bull Racing team has the best chassis followed by McLaren with the second best.
The Mercedes team had mentioned in Monza, that they were expecting to struggle at this circuit, and Hamilton for the first time participate in a tyre test at Paul Riccard, to figure the complexities of their car.