Lewis Hamilton refused to make excuses after qualifying third in Singapore, saying polesitter and teammate Nico Rosberg showed the Mercedes’ true potential.
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Formula One acquired an exotic addition to its list of wildlife hazards on Saturday after a large monitor lizard wandered onto the Singapore Grand Prix circuit during final practice.
Rosberg set the fastest lap time in FP3, however, Hamilton was even faster and was unable to put a lap together.
Daniel Ricciardo split the championship rivals after he hauled his Red Bull on to the front row, albeit half a second adrift of Rosberg’s outstanding lap.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen – who is the only driver to post a race win this season in Spain – will start Sunday’s race beside Hamilton after placing fourth in qualifying.
Last year’s victor, Sebastian Vettel, was unhappy with his Ferrari’s set-up, at one point telling his team he could not control the rear of the auto and felt “like a passenger” as he slumped to fifth place, three-quarters of a second off Rosberg’s pace.
Intriguingly, both Red Bulls progressed through Q2 using the supersoft tyres, which means they will start the race on the more-durable rubber, giving them a likely strategic advantage.
Formula 1 fans may be moaning about Mercedes’ dominance killing interest in the sport, but Saturday’s qualifying session proved far from boring for spectators and television viewers worldwide. Everyone expected Vettel to be competitive, however, he could only manage setting the fifth fastest lap time.
“It may be time to change that then”, said Rosberg, when reminded of the statistic.
Deer have appeared on track in Austria in the past, snakes in Malaysia and a cat ran out in front of cars in Azerbaijan’s debut race this year in Baku.
Max Verstappen encountered the creature just after Turn 3, but the intrusive reptile made it safely to the other side of the track, and the precautionary yellow flags were brought back in. This was his first pole in Singapore, where his best finish was second back in 2008, when he was with Williams.
But Force India will be happy to see Nico Hulkenberg continuing to impress, again going sixth fastest (1:45.316) ahead of Torro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat (1:45.503).
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He paid credit to his team for being able to diagnose and overcome the problems that saw the team perform relatively poorly in qualifying here past year.
