Singapore - Sebastian Vettel was beaming from ear to ear after ending Ferrari's three-year wait for a Formula One pole position by blitzing the all-conquering Mercedes duo at his favoured Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday.
The quadruple world champion became the first Ferrari driver to claim a pole position since Fernando Alonso at the 2012 German Grand Prix with an impressive time of one minute 43.885 seconds under the floodlights at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Vettel, winner in Malaysia and Hungary this year, was almost 1.5 seconds quicker than championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton had claimed 11 of 12 poles this year in his Mercedes and leads the drivers standings by 53 points but could only manage fifth on Saturday.
Hamilton's team mate Nico Rosberg, who is second in the standings with seven races left, will be alongside the Briton on the third row after also struggling on Saturday.
It was the first time Mercedes had not claimed pole since the Austrian Grand Prix last year.
“Unbelievable. I know it is only Saturday and the main job is tomorrow but I had to enjoy the moment,” Vettel told reporters after whooping and hollering in delight when his team told him of his position over the radio.
“The car was fantastic to drive and got better through qualifying. Surprised by the margin, but it just came together.”
Five pole sitters have gone on to claim the chequered flag in seven previous editions of the Singapore night race, where the scarcity of overtaking opportunities on the narrow 23-turn circuit puts an emphasis on qualifying.
Vettel, who celebrated with his trademark finger salute, enjoyed a hat-trick of consecutive wins from 2011 with his former team Red Bull and talked up his victory chances as he bids to eat into his 74-point deficit on Hamilton.
“You need to be confident in your car,” the 28-year-old told reporters.
“It's a street circuit and the better you feel, the closer you get to the walls, the quicker you can go. It's a circuit where the driver can make the difference.
“I have always loved this track. It's a tough race.”
His former team mate Daniel Ricciardo was second quickest for Red Bull with his current colleague Kimi Raikkonen third.
The dry-humoured Raikkonen was also left surprised by Ferrari's impressive pace and was hopeful they could claim the first ever one-two in Singapore on Sunday.
“It was quite a good result for the team today - I was not very happy since this morning for whatever reason - so I'm a bit surprised to be in this position after how difficult it felt all day, but it was good,” the former world champion said.
“We have to do a good job tomorrow and hopefully get the two cars on the podium.”
Reuters