Saturday, September 20, 2014

Lewis Hamilton grabs Singapore Pole

Lewis Hamilton grabs pole in Singapore F1 Qualifying


It was an interesting battle in Singapore. For the first time the dominance of Mercedes was challenged in Singapore. And Lewis Hamilton showed lot of character to grab the pole by 0.007s off Nico Rosberg, despite driving a mishandling car and suffering a big lockup during his run. Mercedes was no where in the competition till the last run in Q3.

During Q3, that is the top-ten shoot out, it was not a great beginning for the Mercedes drivers as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg finished 6th and 7th during their first runs. However, fortunately Hamilton could do a brilliant second run and grab the pole.

Daniel Ricciardo finished in third position just ahead of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Ferrari was appearing to be doing well. Unfortunately Kimi Raikkonen faced a problem as his engine appeared to die on him during his outlap but was still classified at 7th. His team-mate Fernando Alonso finished in 5th followed by Felipe Massa of Williams in 6th.

Valtteri Bottas of Williams scored P8. He was followed by Magnussen of Mclaren and Kvyat of Toro Rosso qualified in 10th position.

In the Q1, it was Raikkonen of Ferrari who topped the time sheets. At the bottom of the grid, there was a huge difference between the Caterham drivers as Marcus Ericsson came last and was nearly 2 seconds slower than his 20th placed team mate Kamui Kobayashi. They were separated by Max Chilton on Marussia in 21st position. Jules Bianchi of Marussia came 19th. Pastor Maldonado of Lotus joined them in 18th position and Adrian Sutil of Sauber in 17th to get relegated.

Maldonado’s teammate Romain Grosjean didn’t fare much better as he finished in 16th position despite qualifying for the Q2. Sergio Perez of Force India could only finish in 15th. His teammate Nico Hulkenberg finished in 13th. The duo being separated by Esteban Gutierrez in 14th position. Jean-Eric Vergne who has been dropped by Toro Rosso team for the 2015 season claimed the 12th spot. Former world Champion Jenson Button failed to qualify for the Q1 top ten shootout as he finished in 11th position. It would be pretty painful for Jenson Button as his younger teammate out-qualified him. Jenson Button doesn’t have a contract for the next year. And if McLaren thinks that Button is slowing down, then they may get someone in his place next year. This should be clear later during the year.

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