LEWIS FINDS A POREFECT LAP
LEWIS HAMILTON produced a “magic” lap out of the blue to secure a sensational pole position for today’s Singapore Grand Prix.
The Brit, 30 points clear of closest championship rival Sebastian Vettel with seven rounds remaining, lapped the Marina Bay Street Circuit in 1min36.015s to claim a record-extending 79th pole position, 0.319sec ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The Ferrari pairing of Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen had set the pace for most of the weekend but the German could manage only third place, more than half a second down, and will start alongside Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton said: “That lap felt like magic. I don’t really know where it came from.
“It was just perfectly to the limit. It felt like one of the best laps I can remember feeling.”
Hamilton later described the 23-turn floodlit circuit as “Monaco on steroids”.
His time was three-and-ahalf seconds quicker than Vettel’s pole position from a year ago and should Hamilton make a clean start on a circuit where he has won three times before, the Briton is highly likely to extend his drivers’ championship lead. Verstappen also sprang something of a surprise to finish just behind Hamilton, narrowly missing out on becoming the youngest ever pole-sitter in Formula One – but the 20-year-old was still delighted with his performance.
“Honestly this feels like a victory. To be second is unbelievable,” Verstappen said. “We just have to make sure we have a clean start and then everything is possible.”
Vettel, like Hamilton, is seeking a fifth world title and while he remains a huge threat in a very competitive car, the German was disappointed not to have been able to capitalise on the dominance Ferrari had over their rivals in practice.
“For us it was a bit of a messy qualifying,” he lamented. “We had two laps [in the final qualifying session] and they were both not good enough.”