» Hamilton edges Rosberg for Singapore pole

Lewis Hamilton has claimed the 37th pole position of his Formula 1 career with a brilliant final flying lap in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix. In an incredibly closely fought session, the Mercedes driver edged out his chief title rival and teammate Nico Rosberg by just seven-thousandths of a second. Daniel Ricciardo was less than two-tenths of a second back in third place.

The Mercedes duo kept relatively quiet during all three qualifying sessions, giving false hope to the likes of Ferrari and Williams. It wasn’t until the final lap where both Hamilton and Rosberg demoted provisional pole sitter Ricciardo down to third.

Rosberg had early signs of trouble when on his first flying lap in Q1 he had a minor brake failure, sending him into the exit road at Turn Eight.

The Red Bull’s showed that they will be competitive come tomorrow’s race, with Ricciardo just under two-tenths behind Hamilton’s fastest lap. Sebastian Vettel was just behind in fourth, however had a scare in Q1 when he left his run late and was held up by Daniil Kvyat, compromising his lap. Fortunately he still had enough time to complete another lap to get him out of the drop zone.

Ferrari failed to capitalise on the promise they showed throughout the weekend. With Fernando Alonso topping the final practice session many expected him to challenge the Mercedes for a top two position, or even the Red Bull’s, however he came just short of Vettel’s time, a mere five one thousandths of a second off the German.

His team-mate Kimi Raikkonen also found himself struggling after good performances in practice. He will line up seventh on the grid, over two-tenths slower than Alonso.

Daniil Kvyat impressed for Toro Rosso, making it into Q3 while his team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne struggled behind in 12th position.

The Force India Drivers failed to make an impact with both Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez failing to make Q3, after displaying glimpses of pace earlier on in the session. The pair was split by Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez, who again out-qualified Adrian Sutil after dropping out in Q1 due to a lack of power.

After struggling throughout the weekend, Romain Grosjean came close to passing the Force India of Perez but a problem with the engine prevented him from completing his last flying lap. He ended up in 15th position, just over two-tenths behind Perez.

Jules Bianchi will start from 19th after qualifying a second faster than Kamui Kobayashi in the Caterham and his team-mate Max Chilton.

2014 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix – Qualifying Results:

	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05	1:45.681		17
2.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05	1:45.688	+ 0.007	19
3.	Daniel Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10	1:45.854	+ 0.173	12
4.	Sebastian Vettel	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10	1:45.902	+ 0.221	15
5.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F14T	1:45.907	+ 0.226	16
6.	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36	1:46.000	+ 0.319	20
7.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari F14T	1:46.170	+ 0.489	14
8.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36	1:46.187	+ 0.506	18
9.	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren Mercedes MP4-29	1:46.250	+ 0.569	18
10.	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9	1:47.362	+ 1.681	21
	Q3 Cut-Off: 1:46.926		Time	Gap*	Laps
10.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-29	1:46.943	+ 1.118	12
12.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9	1:46.989	+ 1.164	14
18.	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07	1:47.308	+ 1.483	13
20.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33	1:47.333	+ 1.508	9
13.	Sergio Pérez	Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07	1:47.575	+ 1.750	13
15.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team Renault E22	1:47.812	+ 1.987	14
	Q2 Cut-Off: 1:48.143		Time	Gap**	Laps
17.	Adrian Sutil	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33	1:48.324	+ 1.639	6
18.	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team Renault E22	1:49.063	+ 2.378	8
19.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03	1:49.440	+ 2.755	7
20.	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05	1:50.405	+ 3.720	8
21.	Max Chilton	Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03	1:50.473	+ 3.788	7
22.	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05	1:52.287	+ 5.602	5