bigbadbrother
09-17-2016, 04:33 PM
Samuel Reiman
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg will start on pole position for Sunday's Singapore GP at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore, after setting a 1:42.584 during the final qualifying session on Saturday.
This is Rosberg's seventh pole in 15 races this season and comes on the weekend of his 200th career F1 start.
Rosberg set his pole lap during the first set of runs in Q3, while Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton was right behind him in second.
The drivers went back out on track in the closing moments for a second set of runs but very few were able to improve, although Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo was able to jump up into second position, pushing Hamilton back onto the second row of the grid with Ricciardo's teammate Max Verstappen.
The best Ferrari could manage was fifth with Kimi Raikkonen, while Sebastian Vettel had a mechanical failure in Q1 that saw him unable to set a competitive time. Vettel, having won here last year, will start from the rear of the field on Sunday.
Vettel wasn't the only one who hit trouble, with McLaren driver Jenson Button and Hass driver Romain Grosjean both getting into the barriers to bring out the yellow flags at the end of Q2.
Controversially, Force India's Sergio Perez still set his fastest time under the yellow flags at the end of Q2, and was able to advance to the final qualifying session while Williams driver Valtteri Bottas was knocked out and will start 11th. Joining Bottas on row six will be his teammate Felipe Massa.
Unofficial starting grid:
1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
2. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull
3. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
4. Max Verstappen - Red Bull
5. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
6. Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso
7. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso
8. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India
9. Fernando Alonso - McLaren
10. Sergio Perez - Force India
11. Valtteri Bottas - Williams
12. Felipe Massa - Williams
13. Jenson Button - McLaren
14. Esteban Gutierrez - Haas
15. Romain Grosjean - Haas
16. Marcus Ericsson - Sauber
17. Kevin Magnussen - Renault
18. Felipe Nasr - Sauber
19. Jolyon Palmer - Renault
20. Pascal Wehrlein - Manor
21. Esteban Ocon - Manor
22. Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg will start on pole position for Sunday's Singapore GP at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore, after setting a 1:42.584 during the final qualifying session on Saturday.
This is Rosberg's seventh pole in 15 races this season and comes on the weekend of his 200th career F1 start.
Rosberg set his pole lap during the first set of runs in Q3, while Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton was right behind him in second.
The drivers went back out on track in the closing moments for a second set of runs but very few were able to improve, although Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo was able to jump up into second position, pushing Hamilton back onto the second row of the grid with Ricciardo's teammate Max Verstappen.
The best Ferrari could manage was fifth with Kimi Raikkonen, while Sebastian Vettel had a mechanical failure in Q1 that saw him unable to set a competitive time. Vettel, having won here last year, will start from the rear of the field on Sunday.
Vettel wasn't the only one who hit trouble, with McLaren driver Jenson Button and Hass driver Romain Grosjean both getting into the barriers to bring out the yellow flags at the end of Q2.
Controversially, Force India's Sergio Perez still set his fastest time under the yellow flags at the end of Q2, and was able to advance to the final qualifying session while Williams driver Valtteri Bottas was knocked out and will start 11th. Joining Bottas on row six will be his teammate Felipe Massa.
Unofficial starting grid:
1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
2. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull
3. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
4. Max Verstappen - Red Bull
5. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
6. Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso
7. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso
8. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India
9. Fernando Alonso - McLaren
10. Sergio Perez - Force India
11. Valtteri Bottas - Williams
12. Felipe Massa - Williams
13. Jenson Button - McLaren
14. Esteban Gutierrez - Haas
15. Romain Grosjean - Haas
16. Marcus Ericsson - Sauber
17. Kevin Magnussen - Renault
18. Felipe Nasr - Sauber
19. Jolyon Palmer - Renault
20. Pascal Wehrlein - Manor
21. Esteban Ocon - Manor
22. Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari