Singapore GP: Vettel ends Hamilton's pole run as Mercedes struggles

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.

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time
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