Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team’s German driver Nico Rosberg waves as he celebrates pole position after the qualifying session on September 17, 2016, ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix night race.
Advertisement
In the previous eight races of the Singapore GP, the pole-sitter has won the race six times and Rosberg, who is two-race winning streak, will want to make it count here on Sunday to lead the championship once again.
Hamilton will start third on the grid, also behind Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, and with the Marina Bay Street Circuit proving to be notoriously hard for overtaking, the Briton’s two-point lead may not survive Sunday’s race.
Max Verstappen was only 0.059 secs adrift of Rosberg with his Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in third.
Hamilton followed Friday’s pattern of overshooting his braking points when using the softest compound tire, and his best time was 1.5 seconds off Rosberg.
Rosberg clinched the top spot when he drove his Mercedes round the picturesque city-centre circuit in a blisteringly fast one minute, 42.584 seconds, reports Efe.
However, it was here Red Bull made a decision to run the SuperSoft, giving them an advantage in the race tomorrow, but not off the start-line.
Jenson Button was a lowly 16th – almost three seconds slower than Rosberg – while British rookie Jolyon Palmer posted only the 20th best time. “I haven’t been able to string them (laps) together”.
Hamilton said: “It has not been my weekend so far”.
“But we made some changes to the vehicle, and it felt really good this evening”.
“I like it”, he said of the statistic, after proclaiming this pole win among the top three of his 200 Grand Prix starts. “We’re losing time” over the radio as he entered the pitlane after lapping slowest of the 22 drivers.
At the same race last year, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel held a 1.4s gap over the fastest Mercedes, but this year that advantage had swung back in favour of the world champions.
“We have created a good opportunity by starting on the front row, and our race pace has been good (in practice)”. That will allow them greater flexibility of strategy at a venue that has had safety vehicle periods in all of its previous races. “He showed the true potential of the auto and I will do as good as I can to get at least one step up”.
Advertisement
“I am pleased enough. Even with a ideal lap I don’t think we could have caught that up”.
