Vettel has won the Singapore GP 2017 pole, his fourth in Singapore after a tightly contested session between Ferrari and Red Bull. Mercedes had a slow day in qualifying, Hamilton only managed fifth. For Red Bull, qualifying was a double podium, Verstappen was particularly fast in this session.
Singapore GP 2017 Qualifying Results Top 10
1. Vettel – Ferrari
2. Verstappen – Red Bull
3. Ricciardo – Red Bull
4. Raikkonen – Ferrari
5. Hamilton – Mercedes
6. Bottas – Mercedes
7. Hulkenberg – Renault
8. Alonso – McLaren
9. Vandoorne – McLaren
10. Sainz – Toro Rosso
The Singapore Grand Prix 2017 kicked off under the floodlights at the Marina Bay street circuit. Both Hamilton and Vettel have three pole positions in Singapore. Nine cars headed out first, including both Ferraris led by Raikkonen, and everyone was on ultrasofts.
Night has fallen in Singapore 🌃
The race for pole is minutes away ⏱
Qualifying under the lights? Fasten your seatbelts 👊#SingaporeGP 🇸🇬 pic.twitter.com/ogl58CCFFI
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 16, 2017
Raikkonen posted the first time, a 1m44.060s lap with Kvyat coming in second. Vandoorne however managed to go fastest for McLaren on 1m44.008s with Alonso not far in third. Next to top the times was Ricciardo and Verstappen, the Red Bulls were first and second. The battle of the Red Bulls continued, but Ricciardo managed to stay ahead, with Hamilton taking second momentarily.
In the meantime, Massa hit the wall at turn 21, he suffered a puncture and a broken wheel. There was smoke on Kvyat’s Toro Rosso as he came into the pits, meanwhile, Verstappen had now taken the top spot.
Eliminated in Q1 were Magnussen, Massa, Stroll, Wehrlein and Ericsson. While Verstappen, Ricciardo, Alonso, Sainz, Vandoorne, Hamilton, Palmer, Kvyat, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Raikkonen, Vettel, Perez, Ocon and Grosjean all proceeded to Q2. The two McLarens finished in the top five.
Singapore sparkle. 😍✨ pic.twitter.com/ZAi7uSNwwR
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 16, 2017
Raikkonen was fastest again at the start of Q2, later beaten by Vettel and Verstappen. Ultrasoft was still the tire of choice here.
Grosjean went off at turn 1 and was not able to record a time during the first runs. The final runs were underway with just 2 mins left on the clock. Perez was having trouble in the final run, he abandoned it as he yelled over the radio, “Oh my God! What did you guys do with the tyres?! No grip at all.”
Eliminated in Q2 were Palmer, Perez, Kvyat, Ocon and Grosjean. Proceeding to Q3 were Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Vettel, Hamilton, Vandoorne, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Alonso and Sainz. Again the McLarens were in good shape.
Raikkonen was the first out again to head into Q3 followed by Hamilton. Alonso and Vandoorne were first to set times, Raikkonen then emerged on top before being beaten by Verstappen and Vettel.
The Mercedes cars were having a slow session, the battle appeared to be between Red Bull and Ferrari. The final flying laps were on, Alonso and Vandoorne placed eighth and ninth respectively while Raikkonen failed to improve. Vettel went even faster and claimed an easy pole for Ferrari. Verstappen stayed in second.
