Rosberg leaves Hamilton in his Singapore wake
NICO ROSBERG left a beleaguered Lewis Hamilton trailing in his wake as he secured pole position for today’s Singapore Grand Prix in emphatic fashion.
Rosberg, who will start his 200th Formula One race, was a crushing seven tenths of a second faster than an offcolour Hamilton, would could qualify only third at the Marina Bay street circuit.
Daniel Ricciardo split the championship rivals after he hauled his Red Bull on to the front row, albeit half a second adrift of Rosberg’s outstanding lap.
Hamilton holds a slender two-point advantage over Rosberg. But by the time the chequered flag falls this afternoon he could find himself back behind his Mercedes team-mate in the championship race.
Rosberg, a winner of the last two grands prix, is enjoying a purple patch and his performance here on Saturday will surely rank as one of his best in the sport.
His quickest lap of one minute and 42.584 seconds, at a circuit where he has failed to finish on the podium since the very first staged here in 2008, will leave Hamilton scratching his head.
And with overtaking largely impossible under the lights, Rosberg will start as the firm favourite for what would be the eighth victory of a season which could yet herald his first title.
“I am definitely happy with that one for my 200th grand prix,” said Rosberg. “Definitely one of my top three laps ever.
“I knew I had to give it everything and pull one out of the bag which is cool.”
Hamilton added: “It has not been my weekend so far. Nico did a great job and he showed the potential of the car.”
Sebastian Vettel may have won half of the eight races staged in Singapore, but he will be last on the grid today. The four-time world champion, a winner here last year, encountered a problem with his Ferrari.
There was similar frustration for Jenson Button, who will start only 13th after his car stopped on the track in the closing stages of Q2.
Jolyon Palmer is running out of time to convince the Renault hierarchy that he warrants a second season in the sport, as he qualified only 19th.
Elsewhere, Max Verstappen qualified fourth with Kimi Raikkonen fifth. Fernando Alonso will start eighth for McLaren.