2012 SINGAPORE GP: HAMILTON WITH BRILLIANT DRIVE TO POLE

Lewis Hamilton secured a stunning pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix as he beat the rest of the field by half a second. With it appearing to be a straight fight between Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel for pole, Hamilton delivered on his first run in Q3 with a 1:46.362 while Vettel was 1.3s off the pace. That opened the door for Pastor Maldonado to take second place, with Vettel unable to improve sufficiently on his final run to secure a place on the front row.

Jenson Button was fourth fastest ahead of points' leader Fernando Alonso and Paul di Resta in the rapid Force India. Mark Webber was seventh fastest for the moment, but that may change as the Australian is under investigation for allegedly impeding Timo Glock during Q1. Romain Grosjean, with what might have constituted the scruffiest lap of the season, was eighth fastest ahead of the two Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, who both declined to set a laptime in Q3.

Pos    Driver              Team           Time        Gap              
 1. Lewis Hamilton       McLaren         1:46.362
 2. Pastor Maldonado     Williams        1:46.804   + 0.442
 3. Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull        1:46.905   + 0.543
 4. Jenson Button        McLaren         1:46.939   + 0.577
 5. Fernando Alonso      Ferrari         1:47.216   + 0.854
 6. Paul di Resta        Force India     1:47.241   + 0.879
 7. Mark Webber          Red Bull        1:47.475   + 1.113
 8. Romain Grosjean      Lotus           1:47.788   + 1.426
 9. Michael Schumacher   Mercedes AMG    no time
10. Nico Rosberg         Mercedes AMG    no time
Q2 Fastest time: L.Hamilton 1:46.665
11. Nico Hulkenberg      Force India     1:47.975   + 1.310
12. Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus           1:48.261   + 1.596
13. Felipe Massa         Ferrari         1:48.344   + 1.679
14. Sergio Peres         Sauber          1:48.505   + 1.840
15. Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso      1:48.774   + 2.109
16. Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso      1:48.849   + 2.184
17. Bruno Senna          Williams        no time
Q1 Fastest time: R.Grosjean 1:47.688
18. Kamui Kobayashi      Sauber          1:49.933   + 2.245
19. Vitaly Petrov        Caterham        1:50.846   + 3.158
20. Heikki Kovalainen    Caterham        1:51.137   + 3.449
21. Timo Glock           Marussia        1:51.370   + 3.682
22. Charles Pic          Marussia        1:51.762   + 4.074
23. Narain Karthikeyan   HRT             1:52.372   + 4.684
24. Pedro de la Rosa     HRT             1:53.355   + 5.667
107% time: 1:55:226