Daniel Ricciardo will start second in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix for Red Bull Racing.
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Singapore, Sep 17 (IANS) Nico Rosberg secured pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix while Daniel Ricciardo was second.
The 27-year-old would love nothing more than to break his duck, particularly after his disappointment at a similar, concentration-sapping street circuit in Monaco last May where he qualified on pole only for a botched pit stop by his Red Bull team to hand victory to Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen explained that he had difficulty getting the ultra-soft tyres on his Red Bull to work properly over the first sector of the lap. “The aim was to be in on the front row, we knew it would be tough to get in front of the Mercedes, but it was nice to be in front of at least one of them”, said Ricciardo.
“It was clear I wasn’t going to improve significantly to save myself into Q2 to have another look and fix it, so that’s why we chose to come in after the second lap”. Obviously we feel it’s a good thing; let’s see if it makes a difference tomorrow, but the last lap in Q3 was clean.
“Nico did a great job in releasing the full potential of the auto”.
The Ferrari driver encountered a problem with his anti-roll bar during Q1, with replays showing him rounding some corners on only three wheels as he set the slowest time of the opening session. The vehicle felt good throughout the weekend during the practice sessions and I was very comfortable in the auto but it didn’t come together for qualifying.
Hamilton said: “It has not been my weekend so far”.
“Obviously, I didn’t get to do long runs yesterday, so I’m not quite sure how the auto will go”, he added. “Then in turn two, through turn five, I felt that the vehicle was not the same”, he told reporters.
“I think today the vehicle was driving me because I couldn’t feel it like I wanted to. It’s really annoying and disappointing but we have to go and deal with it and do the best tomorrow”.
Carlos Sainz Jr. claimed a superb sixth for Toro Rosso, ahead of teammate Daniil Kvyat (who only made one run in Q3) and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen will start alongside Hamilton after setting the fourth fastest time for Red Bull, with the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen rounding out the top five.
“I would love to win it – we’ve created an opportunity starting on the front row”.
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Romain Grosjean’s weekend from hell continued as he crashed out of Q2 during his final flying lap, losing control of his vehicle at Turn 10.
