Qualifying report
Formula 1 Singapore GP
Singapore GP: Vettel ends Hamilton's pole run as Mercedes struggles
Sebastian Vettel ended Lewis Hamilton's run of pole positions by giving Ferrari its first pole in three years in Singapore Grand Prix qualifying.
Pablo Elizalde
Edited: Sep 19, 2015, 8:30 PM
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Vettel beat Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo to the top spot, as Mercedes struggled to match its rivals' pace.
It was Ferrari's first pole position since the 2012 German Grand Prix.
Vettel secured pole with a best time of 1:43.885, outpacing Ricciardo by over half a second and teammate Kimi Raikkonen by over seven tenths.
Ricciardo's teammate Daniil Kvyat was fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who was over a full second off Vettel's pace in what was Mercedes' worst performance of the year.
Teammate Nico Rosberg finished in sixth, ahead of the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.
Max Verstappen put the Toro Rosso in eighth, with Felipe Massa ninth in the Williams and Romain Grosjean completing the top 10 for Lotus.
Nico Hulkenberg will start from 11th position in the quickest Force India, ahead of McLaren's Fernando Alonso who, despite hopes that Singapore would be better for his car, missed out on a top 10 slot.
Sergio Perez qualified in 13th position, having to abort his final lap because of yellow flags due to debris on the track. An angry Perez was seen hitting his steering wheel as a result of his exit from Q2.
Carlos Sainz was also knocked out in Q2 after making contact with the wall during his final flying lap. The Toro Rosso driver crashed at Turn 19 and damaged his car's suspension, finishing in 14th position.
The incident forced a few drivers, including the frustrated Perez, to abort their laps.
Jenson Button completed a disappointing day for McLaren, the Briton qualifying down in 15h position, seven tenths off Alonso.
All the drivers except Vettel, Raikkonen and Ricciardo used the super-soft tyres in Q1, which knocked out both Sauber drivers Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson thanks to a last-gasp effort from Button, who improved when the time was over.
Pastor Maldonado was another victim of the first qualifying segment, finishing down in 18th position in the second Lotus.
Manor drivers Will Stevens and Alexander Rossi were slowest of all once more, the American rookie half a second off the pace of his teammate in his first ever qualifying session.
The duo, who qualified over 3.6 seconds slower than Maldonado, was already facing a five-place grid penalty for gearbox changes.
PosDriverTeamCarTime 1 
Sebastian Vettel 
Ferrari Ferrari SF15-T 1:43.885 2 
Daniel Ricciardo 
Red Bull Racing Red Bull RB11 1:44.428 3 
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari SF15-T 1:44.667 4 
Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing Red Bull RB11 1:44.745 5 
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid 1:45.300 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid 1:45.415 7 Valtteri Bottas Williams Williams FW37 1:45.676 8 
Max Verstappen Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR10 1:45.798 9 
Felipe Massa Williams Williams FW37 1:46.077 10 
Romain Grosjean Team Lotus Lotus E23 Hybrid 1:46.413 11 Nico Hulkenberg 
Force India Force India VJM08 1:46.305 12 
Fernando Alonso McLaren McLaren MP4-30 1:46.328 13 
Sergio Perez Force India Force India VJM08 1:46.385 14 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR10 1:46.894 15 Jenson Button McLaren McLaren MP4-30 1:47.019 16 Felipe Nasr 
Sauber Sauber C34 1:46.965 17 
Marcus Ericsson Sauber Sauber C34 1:47.088 18 
Pastor Maldonado Team Lotus Lotus E23 Hybrid 1:47.323 19 Will Stevens Manor Marussia MR03B 1:51.021 20 
Alexander Rossi Manor Marussia MR03B 1:51.523
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