SINGAPORE – Ferrari's Charles Leclerc stormed to his third
straight Formula One pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix on
Saturday and now aims to win again as he did in Belgium and Italy.
Leclerc posted 1 minute 36.217 seconds on the floodlit
5.063-kilometre Yas Marina street course to rank first on the grid
for the fifth time this year.
World champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes qualified 0.191 seconds
behind, and Sebastian Vettel was third in the other Ferrari, 0.220
seconds off his team-mate Leclerc.
Saturday's session was smoother than that in Monza a fortnight ago
where many drivers failed to cross the line in time for a final
flying lap.
Ferrari's pole and Vettel's third place came as a surprise as the
team were expected to struggle on a course which didn't really favour
them.
"We came here knowing it would be a difficult track for us," Leclerc
said "It was a very good lap, there were some moments when I thought
I had lost the car."
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/SinngaporeGP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SinngaporeGP🇸🇬 #SF90 #essereFerrari🔴 @Charles_Leclerc pic.twitter.com/BoBXJBsRdf
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari)
The Monegasque also praised his team after his car had gearbox
problems in the first practice session on Friday.
"The team has done an amazing job and I'm extremely happy to be on
pole. We had a very tough Friday, yesterday was not my day, but I
worked hard in the car and it paid off today," he said.
Hamilton, a four-time winner in Singapore, admitted: "I don't know
where Ferrari picked up their pace because this is not known to be
one of their tracks, but they did a great job.
"I needed something special at the end, so I gave it absolutely
everything I had. It was very, very close. I'm sure I nearly hit the
wall a couple of times but it was as much as I could get out of the
car.
"I'm really, really happy to be on the front row in the mix with them
and try and divide them tomorrow," he said in the direction of
Ferrari.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/Quali?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Qualiresults 🏁
1️⃣ #Charles16
3️⃣ #Seb5
Fantastic job from @Charles_Leclerc and #Seb5 today, roll on tomorrow 🙌 #essereFerrari🔴 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/R181s6u1m4
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari)
Hamilton leads the championship 63 points ahead of team-mate Valtteri
Bottas after 14 of 21 season races as he is firmly moving towards a
sixth world title.
"Maybe I peaked a bit early, we had a tiny wobble and there was no
point in finishing that lap," the German four-time race winner said.
"It puts us in a good position tomorrow. It should be a good race,
lets see what the tyres are going to do, if we can push for the two
hours or will we have to manage them."
Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who had impressed in Friday practice,
qualified fourth ahead of Bottas. Racing Point's Sergio Perez was
11th but loses five spots over a gearbox change following a crash in
morning practice.