Mercedes will have stiff competition from Red Bull racers Ricciardo and Dutch teenager Max Verstappen, who will start Sunday’s race alongside Hamilton in the second row.
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Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg (C) of Germany celebrates his pole position as he stands next to Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo (L) of Australia and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain after the qualifying session on Day 2 of 2016 Singapore F1 Grand Prix Night Race, Sept. 17, 2016.
The German’s best lap of one minute 42.584 seconds left him perfectly placed to retake the championship lead from British team mate Lewis Hamilton under the floodlights on Sunday. For sure one of my top three laps ever, so happy with that.
Red Bull’s Verstappen was second fastest, just 0.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was fifth, and teammate Sebastian Vettel will start last in Sunday’s race after his auto had an anti-roll bar failure in the Q1 session.
Red Bull, who lived up to the pre-qualifying predictions by proving to be Mercedes’ nearest challengers, will employ a different tyre strategy in the race which could make for a fascinating battle.
Rosberg said: “It may be time to change that then. At least we have some new tyres, and even if it is not an ideal situation, we can still have a good race”.
So this is how the startign grid looks, Rosberg is on the front row with Daniel Ricciardo.
“Part of the rear suspension broke on the out-lap”, explained Vettel, who suggested Ferrari may now fit his vehicle with a fresh engine for the race, given any subsequent grid penalty would not affect him.
Hamilton has struggled this week.
Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz took the sixth position while his teammate Daniil Kvyat finished seventh.
“The time lost yesterday has proved more valuable than I thought”, rued Hamilton after qualifying just third.
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“The vehicle was behaving pretty decently, apart from lacking a bit of grip overall”, he said. Force India’s Sergio Perez initially qualified 10th but received an eight-place grid penalty for setting his best time in the Q2 session while double-yellow caution flags were being waved following a crash into the barriers by Haas driver Sebastian Grosjean. “We expected other teams to do it as well”.
