Qualifying report
Formula 1 Singapore GP
Singapore GP: Rosberg grabs pole, Vettel suffers nightmare
Nico Rosberg will start the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position for Mercedes ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, but Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel will start from the back of the grid.
Charles Bradley
Edited: Sep 17, 2016, 2:32 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Rosberg beat the opposition by over half a second, as Ricciardo jumped up to second – ahead of Lewis Hamilton – with his final lap.
Intriguingly, both Red Bulls progressed through Q2 using the supersoft tyres, which means they will start the race on the more-durable rubber, giving them a likely strategic advantage.
Max Verstappen will start fourth in the second Red Bull, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen’s teammate Vettel suffered a nightmare when a rear suspension failure in Q1 caused his car to three-wheel through the corners, and he was unable to produce anything like a competitive laptime. He will start 22nd.
Story of the session
Rosberg set the pace after the first runs with a 1m42.584s, with Hamilton only responding with 1m43.288s, seven tenths of a second slower.
Raikkonen slotted into third on 1m43.540s, 0.25s off Hamilton, but two tenths clear of Ricciardo and Verstappen. “That was a really bad lap, I’m locking rears and locking fronts. We need a [traffic-]free lap,” said Verstappen, who was then sent out in the middle of the Mercedes cars.
On the final runs, Ricciardo jumped to second on 1m43.115s, which was 0.531s off Rosberg but over a tenth clear of Hamilton, who could only produce a 1m43.673s after a poor Turn 1.
Verstappen qualified fourth on 1m43.328s, staying clear of Raikkonen who fell back to fifth.
Carlos Sainz was an impressive sixth, ahead of Toro Rosso teammate Daniil Kvyat.
Nico Hulkenberg will start eighth for Force India, ahead of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and the second Force India of Sergio Perez.
Drama for Grosjean and Button in Q2
Q2 was effectively ended prematurely by Romain Grosjean crashing his Haas at Turn 10: “I don't know what happened under braking,” he said after locking his rear wheels and spinning off.
Jenson Button also failed to complete his final lap, after brushing the wall and damaging his McLaren’s left-rear wheel which gave him a puncture, causing him to stop in an escape road.
Yellow flags for those incidents caught out both Williams drivers, so Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa will start 11th and 12th.
There was some consternation at Williams, however, that Perez set his time under the yellows, and appeared to pass Esteban Gutierrez in a yellow zone.
Button was 13th fastest, ahead of Haas duo Gutierrez and Grosjean, and the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson.
Red Bull gambled again on taking supersofts, rather than ultrasofts, in Q2. That allowed Mercedes to top the session unopposed, with Rosberg leading it on 1m43.020s ahead of Hamilton’s 1m43.471s.
Ricciardo managed 1m43.933s, almost two tenths clear of Verstappen in fourth.
Disaster for Vettel in Q1
Vettel suffered a rear suspension breakage that meant his Ferrari dramatically three-wheeled through the corners.
“I think the anti-roll bar broke, there’s something wrong with the car,” he said. After trying to salvage a lap, he was forced to pit: “It’s just stupid, losing time,” he grumbled after managing a lap 4.8s off the pace.
The Renaults of Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer (complaining of “no rear grip” after he overheated his rear tyres on his final lap) will start 17th and 19th respectively, and were split by the Sauber of Felipe Nasr – whose teammate Ericsson benefited from Vettel’s woes to progress to Q2.
Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein beat Esteban Ocon to 20th.
Ricciardo topped the session on 1m44.255s, ahead of Raikkonen and Verstappen. Mercedes ran early, and Hamilton produced a 1m45.167s in fourth, as Rosberg could only produce a scruffy lap of 1m45.316s that was eighth fastest.
ClaDriverChassisEngineTimeGap 1 
Nico Rosberg Mercedes Mercedes 1'42.584 2 
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG 1'43.115 0.531 3 
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 1'43.288 0.704 4 
Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG 1'43.328 0.744 5 
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari 1'43.540 0.956 6 
Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso Ferrari 1'44.197 1.613 7 
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Ferrari 1'44.469 1.885 8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes 1'44.479 1.895 9 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1'44.553 1.969 10 
Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1'44.582 1.998 11 Valtteri Bottas Williams Mercedes 1'44.740 2.156 12 
Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1'44.991 2.407 13 Jenson Button McLaren Honda 1'45.144 2.560 14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas Ferrari 1'45.593 3.009 15 
Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1'45.723 3.139 16 
Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1'47.827 5.243 17 
Kevin Magnussen Renault Renault 1'46.825 4.241 18 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari 1'46.860 4.276 19 Jolyon Palmer Renault Renault 1'46.960 4.376 20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Mercedes 1'47.667 5.083 21 Esteban Ocon Manor Mercedes 1'48.296 5.712 22 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari 1'49.116 6.532
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Singapore GP: Rosberg beats lizard-dodging Verstappen in FP3
Next article Verstappen and Raikkonen rue lack of qualifying speed
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Charles Bradley
Mika Hakkinen on his darkest day in F1
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mika Hakkinen on his darkest day in F1
Dillon: Spotter was “wrong” to shout “wreck him!” before Hamlin clash
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Dillon: Spotter was “wrong” to shout “wreck him!” before Hamlin clash
Hamlin: NASCAR stripping Dillon of win would be “warranted”
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Hamlin: NASCAR stripping Dillon of win would be “warranted”
More from
Felipe Massa
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Formula 1
Formula 1
Italian GP
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Formula 1
Formula 1
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
Formula 1
Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
Latest news
How Max Verstappen beat Red Bull's own simulation tools with P2 in Brazil
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
17 min
How Max Verstappen beat Red Bull's own simulation tools with P2 in Brazil
Who slept best last night: Toto Wolff
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
38 min
Who slept best last night: Toto Wolff
Winners and losers from MotoGP’s contentious Qatar Grand Prix
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 h
Winners and losers from MotoGP’s contentious Qatar Grand Prix
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe