Sebastian Vettel will start from pole tomorrow for the Singapore Grand Prix. It’s his 11th pole position of the season and Red Bull’s 14th.
Mark Webber is in second after a strong lap in the final few moments of Qualifying three.
The Mclaren drivers occupy the second row. Jenson Button was five thousandths of a second faster than his teammate. Lewis Hamilton starts fourth despite retiring before the end of the session.
Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa share the third row.
Q1
Rubens Barrichello led the cars out at the start of Q1 and his teammate Pastor Maldonado briefly headed the times with a 1’49.893.
Sebastian Vettel joined the track and set the fastest time with a 1’47.014 – but it was shortlived as both Button and Hamilton went faster still, Button with a 1’46.993
Vitaly Petrov was the big casualty of the session – despite battling with Bruno Senna for 17th he was knocked out with a 1’49.835.
He was joined by the Kovalainen, Trulli, Glock, D’Ambrosio, Ricciardo and Liuzzi. This means that Vitantonio Liuzzi’s five-grid penalty for causing a collision doesn’t affect the grid.
Drivers eliminated in Q1
18 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’49.835 |
19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1’50.948 |
20 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1’51.012 |
21 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’52.154 |
22 | Jerome D’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’52.363 |
23 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 1’52.404 |
24 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1’52.810 |
Q2
Vettel set the first fastest time of the second session but was promptly beaten by Button.
Kamui Kobayashi crashed, bouncing over several kerbs and into the barriers on his first flying lap. The session was red flagged and, as Kobayashi had yet to set a lap, he will start from 17th tomorrow.
The session was restarted with eight minutes to go.
Bruno Senna battled to 15th place, with a best time of 1’48.662. He complained of traffic during his first flying lap.
In the last few moments of the session, Paul di Resta and Sergio Perez battled for 10th – with Perez initially taking 10th, only to be beaten by two tenths of a second.
Lewis Hamilton limped back to the pits with a puncture to his right rear tyre.
The casualties were Perez, Barrichello, Maldonado, Buemi, Senna, Alguersuari and Kobayashi. And the top 10 stood as Vettel, Button, Webber, Alonso, Massa, Schumacher, Rosberg, Hamilton, Sutil and di Resta.
Drivers eliminated in Q2
11 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’47.616 |
12 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’48.082 |
13 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1’48.270 |
14 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’48.634 |
15 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 1’48.662 |
16 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’49.862 |
17 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari |
Q3
Q3 began with a queue of cars waiting to get onto the track. The top six cars headed out, with the Mercedes and Force India drivers deciding to stay in the pits and wait.
Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the first sector while Jenson Button was fastest in the second by a tenth. Vettel’s first lap beat Button and Hamilton with a 1’44.381 to go top – two tenths of a second faster than Fernando Alonso’s track record set last year.
With just two minutes of the session to go, Hamilton retired to the pits to save his tyres.
The Force India drivers stayed in the pits and didn’t set a time, deciding instead to preserve their tyres for the race.
In the last few moments of the session, Mark Webber managed to set the second fastest time and Vettel abandoned his lap with his 11th pole of the season guaranteed.
Top ten in Q3
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’44.381 |
2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’44.732 |
3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’44.804 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’44.809 |
5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’44.874 |
6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’45.800 |
7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’46.013 |
8 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | |
9 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | |
10 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes |
2011 Singapore Grand Prix
Lachie (@lachie)
24th September 2011, 17:03
Stunning lap from Vettel, never saw it coming.
Eggry (@eggry)
24th September 2011, 17:09
I expect he eventually gets 16 poles this season.
Wooolfy
24th September 2011, 17:12
Vettel’s pole was no surprise. However, Lewis’ tyre puncture at the end of Q2 and refuelling woe, sums up the very unlucky year he’s been having. I expected him to gain 2-3 tenths on Button as that’s the qualifying differiential this year, and as such, should have had P2.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
24th September 2011, 17:25
Hmm I expect Hamilton would have had a bit of a battle on his hands, Button has been on form recently.
Alex (@)
24th September 2011, 17:33
I’m not sure it makes much difference. It’s a shame for him, of course – he probably would have been ahead of Button – but they’re still both on the second row and from there, anything can happen (as Alonso showed at Monza).
At least because Hamilton set a ‘banker’ lap in Q2 on his hard tires, he didn’t go out of quali early. And he gained the set back by only running once in Q3. He still has every chance of competing in the race.
sato113 (@sato113)
24th September 2011, 17:13
hamliton p4 is not too bad. great lap from mark.
Steph (@)
24th September 2011, 18:34
Agree but he’s still behind Seb which just about sums up his year :P
BS (@bs)
24th September 2011, 19:15
I don’t see how a 0.4 deficit on your teammate’s time can be qualified as anything short of embarrassing.
Nick.UK (@)
24th September 2011, 21:51
Im a huge Webber fan! But I agree with this. It’s such a shame he can’t compete with him like last year. It could have been a fantastic inter-team battle all season.
DVC (@dvc)
24th September 2011, 23:08
The lap here is much longer than anywhere else. It equates to a gap on another track of 1/4 of a second, which while still not great couldn’t be called embarrassing.
David-A (@david-a)
24th September 2011, 23:41
Well, it is an improvement over the last three races.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
25th September 2011, 3:05
The thing for concern for Hamilton is that he will start of the dirty side of the track.
Skett (@skett)
25th September 2011, 13:01
tbh since its a street circuit we’ll probably find the whole track is dirty
Todfod (@todfod)
25th September 2011, 8:41
Well… its nowhere close to Massa’s one second deficit to Alonso. Now thats embarrassing!
Santi
24th September 2011, 17:13
Less than a tenth of a second from 3rd to 5th, that was a close one!
OmarR-Pepper (@)
24th September 2011, 17:24
Correct me if I’m wrong, but, if the race finishes in that order, is Vettel champion? Or Webber has to drop (as usually) does?
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
24th September 2011, 17:26
Yea, I think we need 3rd or lower from Webber.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
24th September 2011, 17:31
Well, looks like we’ll have to wait for Vettel being Champion. BTW, Schu’s saving tyres could prove good tomorrow. In the “IF” things, I’d really like to see him on Webber’s seat for the whole next season. I’m sure he could strike many more places with a RB car. It’s just dreaming, but let’s see if Ross Brawn can create a challenger car for 2012
Duke (@duke)
24th September 2011, 19:11
Missed the quali today,hate street circuits anyway ~ never mind got the results here.
So Go Schumi :)
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th September 2011, 17:58
Vettel-Someone-Button or Webber-Alonso is the order needed for SV to seal the championship.
@HoHum (@hohum)
24th September 2011, 18:13
Lewis being the only likely someone unless the race has a case of the crazies.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th September 2011, 18:55
Not sure after Qualy that it’ll be the case, however.
Doance (@doance)
24th September 2011, 17:31
Webber tends to qualify well on the few occasions where he doesn’t have car problems.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
24th September 2011, 17:33
Not the most exciting of qualifying sessions we’ve seen but like I said on Twitter, as a fan you just have to take the rough with the smooth. I feel we’ve had significantly more smooth than rough this season so I won’t complain!
Cracking stuff from Vettel once more and a reasonably large gap over his team mate. I fear Webber will scupper his chances once more with Button ready to pounce and lets not rule out Alonso’s sublime starts this year.
Well done to the Force India guys too. Disaster from Renault, their worst all season I believe.
Finally congratulations to Ricciardo, 0.4s over Liuzzi. Another Vettel in the making?!
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th September 2011, 17:57
Liuzzi didn’t have much to play for anyway, as he had a 5 grid penalty waiting for him.
But it’s great to see him behind Ricciardo. I can’t stand Liuzzi…
Fixy (@)
24th September 2011, 18:17
What! :evil:
I think Liuzzi didn’t set many laps after his initial one, 1:52.8 was his first time if I remember correctly-
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th September 2011, 18:35
Tell me ONE reason for me to think different and I’ll consider it :P.
raymondu999 (@raymondu999)
24th September 2011, 20:56
He has a great accent; especially when he was explaining his traffic woes in China Q1 2010 :P
Alex (@)
24th September 2011, 17:36
Surely Paul di Resta would have been better off setting a last-minute lap on the harder tires?
He’d have gained two positions on the grid, and could then have bottled his rivals up behind him while getting his slowest stint out of the way. Then later in the race, he’d have had both track position and the quicker tires.
Bendanarama (@bendana)
24th September 2011, 17:43
I am both shocked and astounded by this result.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th September 2011, 17:55
That stupid corner where Kobayashi crashed… god, every year the same story! How annoying.
Other than that, impressive as ever for SV. Odd to see Mark being that “close” on second, tho he needed another lap. SV surely can get more out of the car but really didn’t need it.
Amaizing how exhausted the drivers look when out of the car. Temperature, humidity, bumpy track, tension higher than ever because of the tricky layout really is a killer combination!
Journeyer (@journeyer)
24th September 2011, 18:01
It’s Singapore’s answer to the Wall of Champions. Fisichella, Raikkonen, Kobayashi isn’t quite Hill, Villenueve, Schumacher, but it’s a good parallel nonetheless.
robbiepblake (@driftin)
24th September 2011, 18:08
Chicane of One Champion.
goondu86 (@goondu86)
24th September 2011, 20:18
I’ll take that.
xbx-117 (@xbx-117)
24th September 2011, 18:12
I love that chicane. You can be adventurous, but just enter it a little off and it snaps you back to reality.
raymondu999 (@raymondu999)
24th September 2011, 20:58
That corner has got to be renamed the “Singapore Slingshot” rather than “Singapore Sling”
Douglas6250 (@douglas6250)
24th September 2011, 18:17
Keith do you mean “Rubens Barrichello led the cars out at the start of Q1” in the Q1 session ? My bad if I misread something.
RumFRESH (@rumfresh)
24th September 2011, 18:31
The turn 10 chicane is such a disaster. As DC mentioned there is absolutely nothing dignified about an F1 car bouncing across kerbs like that. Not only does it eliminate a possible overtaking opportunity but it quite frankly looks silly.
Mads (@mads)
24th September 2011, 18:37
Agreed! It is such a horrible corner. They should really work on finding a better and safer solution, it is just horrible to see the cars bounce over the kerbs like that.
F1fanNL (@)
24th September 2011, 19:11
I don’t understand why they don’t just remove the curbs. It’s the same for everybody and there are lines so the stewards will be perfectly able to tell when a driver is going ‘off track’.
MemorableC (@memorablec)
24th September 2011, 19:16
just spreading them apart would do wonders
Mike (@mike)
25th September 2011, 1:11
That’s obvious, safety. They simply do not want the cars going any faster through that corner, there isn’t the run off.
However… It’s completely ridiculous. If you don’t have the run off to field a proper corner then you have designed it wrong. Even worse it comes after a straight so they carry speed into it.
It can’t be safe. Imagine if someone does a Kamui on the first lap. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Lachie (@lachie)
25th September 2011, 9:45
This is what I thought too but if you look where Kobayashi hit the wall, there is a road there. The entire straight could be funnelled so that if someone has brake issues they’ll get diverted down that road.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th September 2011, 19:31
good to see I’m not the only one.
Ritesh (@rits)
25th September 2011, 4:30
I’m with you on that one. It’s one of the most pointless (and stupid) corners on the calendar. The cars just look horrible going through it like stumbling drunks..
ob1kenobi.23 (@ob1kenobi23)
24th September 2011, 18:56
Can anyone see a reason for those kerbs being there at all. I don’t think they create a passing opportunity & the track would flow much better without them.
In fact a passing opportunity might be created down the next straight without them.
Mahir C
24th September 2011, 19:16
They say it is for safety, if there is no chicane, the corner will be a flat out left hander without any run-off.
Dave_F1
24th September 2011, 19:34
thats the problem. there is no place to add any run-off there.
if you have the corner as-is without the chicane it would be a super-fast corner with no run-off & if you try & make it tighter its a heavy braking zone with no run-off.
the super-fast corner with no run-off option means if anything happens there its not only a big accident but also a high possibility of a car hitting the wall & then bouncing back onto the circuit infront of other cars.
The heavy braking zone with no run-off means there is more possibility of cars locking up & hitting the wall creating more red flags or safety cars. They always try to have an escape road on street circuits to avoid this.
Also there is the danger of a brake failure or stuck throttle which would be huge issue without adequate run-off at that sort of corner.
the chicane as it is may not be the most ideal solution but its the only thing they can safely do at that part of the circuit.
besides its a nice little challenging corner not too different from the pre-94 Acque Minerale configeration at imola.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th September 2011, 19:24
I have no idea what’s the reasoning behind that corner. It’s stupid, I’ve said it many times. It’s not a challenging corner, it’s just a car breaker. Nonsense.
as if they designed it so there’s a SC period during the race.
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
24th September 2011, 23:25
Same reason why Tamburello had a chicane added , Kobayashi’s crash might not have been ideal, but it wasn’t particularly dangerous either.
Mike (@mike)
25th September 2011, 1:13
I think any time you have cars potentially leaping into the air it’s a huge danger area.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th September 2011, 19:44
Jenson said they want the race to be shorter because of the extreme conditions during the race (temperature, bumpiness of the track, and so on).
Wouldn’t it be brilliant if they remove the kerbs at Turn 10, thus making the track a bit faster (drivers would not need to brake so much) and a lot less bumpy and damaging for the cars and drivers?
A quick, easy and cheap solution for the problem.
czhihong (@czhihong)
24th September 2011, 19:54
Reposting this from last year when it came up (as it inevitably will next year as well):
Of course now we know that the track was, in fact, not changed this year, either at this corner or anywhere else. There’s also no talk at all this year of getting the track changed, I suppose there is no easy solution (if one sees it as a problem in the first place).
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
25th September 2011, 2:35
They could just simply make it a very tight 90 degrees turn (with 1 apex, hence 1 kerb) instead of 3 consecutive corners within centimeters of each other and 3 kerbs in the middle.
If they want to avoid the cars hitting the walls, then removing the kerbs is the way to go. Specially as every crash happens because the cars leap into the air, making the accident a lot more serious.
HounslowBusGarage (@hounslowbusgarage)
24th September 2011, 20:13
Strange to see the top ten lining up team-by-team. Has this ever happened before?
verstappen (@verstappen)
24th September 2011, 21:26
Well. One prediction right. Along with 2000 others.
me
24th September 2011, 21:37
regarding the kerbs and run off. One of the WSBK circuits decided to run the track in the opposite direction to allow for the lack of run off at a certain corner. I wonder if singapore could do this?
SimBri (@f1addict)
24th September 2011, 21:44
Hi Keith, Button was 5 thousandths of a second faster than Hamilton, rather than hundredths. After 18 years of following F1 I still can’t get my head round how close the times are. Remember when 3 drivers qualified with exactly the same time?
Cari Jones (@cari-jones)
24th September 2011, 22:29
Thanks for the heads up, that was me not Keith. All fixed now.
Err Bob
24th September 2011, 22:42
Why cant they have a corner like the one after the chicane in Monaco, 3rd gear into the swimming pool section?
Err Bob
24th September 2011, 23:23
After a wee bit of searching I find Tabac(turn12) is 4th gear and turn ten is a 3rd gear, perhaps the bouncy cars(again!) are better headlines than non crashing cars. Oh Lordy help us when Sky get there hands on it.
ob1kenobi.23 (@ob1kenobi23)
24th September 2011, 23:56
They’ll probably get Sly Stallone or the the 2 nutters from WWE to do the commentary.
They might as well get Seb & lewis to leave the track & race around downtown Singapore.
Err Bob
25th September 2011, 0:08
Lol, bit like that cop show where they lose them in a imaginary town, and then discuss the pro`s an con`s off dust :-)
schooner (@schooner)
25th September 2011, 2:19
While on paper it should be no surprise, you still gotta love seeing the top 5 rows of the grid occupied in order of manufacturer points by the top teams. Hundreds of engineers, working for different constructors, come up with totally different machines that somehow manage to nail lap times with maybe a 2 second gap covering all 10 cars. AND in the correct order! Pretty cool stuff, and it also reinforces my belief that the VERY TOP drivers are almost interchangeable.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
25th September 2011, 2:42
I understand Force India & Schumacher’s strategy but not sure why Hamilton did that? He should have had qualified which may have help him to finish 3rd if not 2nd as for now he will start of the dirty side of the track.Very happy to see Webber putting on the performance he was struggling the whole Friday,Kobayashi finally succeeding to fly & hit the wall as he did tried that in one of the practice session.Bit of a shock to see both Renault struggling.But with tyre change & drivers with different strategy with may be some safety cars we do have a race in our hand.
Randy (@randy)
25th September 2011, 6:56
Wow, look at the grid:
Front row: Red Bull
2nd row: McLaren
3rd row: Ferrari
4th row: Mercedes
5th row: Force India
Had Kobayashi not crashed, we would probably witness pretty much whole grid aligned with teams one behind the other, with only exception of Torro Rosso and Renault mixed with each other.
Thecollaroyboys (@thecollaroyboys)
25th September 2011, 9:06
I guess havinf SV at the front of everything can be a little boring but I think of it more like when Tiger Woods was hot in the ten or so years ago and winning everything by a dozen strokes from the rest of the field. It was stunning to watch someone (tiger) who was so incredibly good and wonder what the hell thay were having for breakfast – its the same with SV, we’re watching a rare instance of brilliance and no doubt coming dominance that leaves all others in the shade. And I wouldnt put the Shue in the same class even with his seven titles – I like to see clean racing.
On another point, there seems to be a lot of comments disregarding Webber – have a look at the points standing. There’s a better than even chance that it will be a red bull 1 2 for the championship. Ham is brittle and button is number 2 to ham so im sorry to hold the pin close to the bubble.
Thecollaroyboys (@thecollaroyboys)
25th September 2011, 9:29
Does anyone know how to get onto the track from pit grandstand once the race is over?