Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/384358
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2014 57 Sport MERCEDES will start the 2014 For- mula 1 Singapore Airlines Singa- pore Grand Prix from the front row of the grid, but it was a mighty close thing not just between polesitter Lewis Hamilton and team mate Nico Rosberg, but between the Sil- ver Arrows and the Red Bulls… Q1 went Ferrari's way, after Ham- ilton had set the initial mark on the soft Pirelli tyres with 1m 47.847s. Kimi Raikkonen did 1m 46.685s on the supersoft, which his Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso failed to beat with 1m 46.889s. Hamilton ended up third on 1m 46.921s, whilst Rosberg was only sixth, unsettled after an early trip down an escape road as he was still getting used to some new brakes. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was also well back, in ninth, after running into traffic in the form of Daniil Kvyat's Toro Rosso. Down the back Adrian Sutil was bumped by Lotus's Romain Gros- jean, the Sauber driver's 1m 48.324s lap leaving him 17th ahead of Pas- tor Maldonado on 1m 49.063s in the second Lotus. The Venezuelan had earlier taken a trip off the road at Turn 7. Jules Bianchi was behind Kamui Kobayashi's Caterham until the dying moments of Q1 when he de- cisively moved ahead for Marus- sia with 1m 49.440s. The Japanese driver didn't improve his previous lap of 1m 50.405s and just stayed ahead of the second Marussia of Max Chilton, who took his MR03 round in 1m 50.473s. Marcus Eric- sson brought up the rear with 1m 52.287s after delays getting his Cat- erham out on to the track. Mercedes moved back to the top in Q2 but Rosberg had to use an extra set of supersofts to do 1m 45.825s. Hamilton's 1m 46.287s came on his one and only run, as did Alonso's third best lap of 1m 46.328s. McLaren's Jenson Button missed the Q3 cut by 0.017s to Kvyat, leav- ing the 2009 world champion in 11th place on 1m 46.943s ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso on 1m 46.989s, Nico Hulkenberg's Force India on 1m 47.308s, Esteban Gutierrez's Sauber on 1m 47.333s, and Sergio Perez in the second Force India on 1m 47.575s. Grosjean was the slowest of the Q2 runners, lapping in 1m 47.812s, and afterwards the Frenchman vented his frustration at the per- formance of his Renault engine. Williams' Felipe Massa was the surprise early pacesetter in Q3, running new supersofts for 1m 46.007s as Hamilton and Rosberg were only sixth and seventh respec- tively on new rubber. But as every- one bar Rosberg - who was forced to use scrubbed tyres - went to new supersofts for their second runs, the German snatched the initia- tive with 1m 45.688s only to have Hamilton take it away by seven- thousandths of a second with 1m 45.681s. Told the bad news over the radio, Rosberg had a one-word re- ply: "Dammit!" Behind them Daniel Ricciardo was third for Red Bull on 1m 45.854s as Vettel just held off Alonso's Ferrari, with 1m 45.902s to 1m 45.907s. Massa took sixth with 1m 46.000s, but Raikkonen complained of loss of power as he recorded 1m 46.170s in the second Ferrari. Valtteri Bot- tas put the second Williams into eighth place on 1m 46.187s, leaving McLaren's Kevin Magnussen and Kvyat to share the fifth row with 1m 46.250s and 1m 47.362s respec- tively. Thus the grid will form: Ham- ilton, Rosberg; Ricciardo, Vettel; Alonso, Massa; Raikkonen, Bot- tas; Magnussen, Kvyat; Button, Vergne; Hulkenberg, Gutierrez; Perez, Grosjean; Sutil, Maldonado; Bianchi, Kobayashi; Chilton, Erics- son. FORMULA 1 2014 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps 1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:46.921 1:46.287 1:45.681 17 2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:47.244 1:45.825 1:45.688 19 3 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:47.488 1:46.493 1:45.854 12 4 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:47.476 1:46.586 1:45.902 15 5 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:46.889 1:46.328 1:45.907 16 6 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:47.615 1:46.472 1:46.000 20 7 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:46.685 1:46.359 1:46.170 14 8 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:47.196 1:46.622 1:46.187 18 9 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:47.976 1:46.700 1:46.250 18 10 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:47.656 1:46.926 1:47.362 21 11 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:47.161 1:46.943 12 12 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 1:47.407 1:46.989 14 13 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:47.370 1:47.308 13 14 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:47.970 1:47.333 9 15 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:48.143 1:47.575 13 16 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:47.862 1:47.812 14 17 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.324 6 18 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1:49.063 8 19 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1:49.440 7 20 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1:50.405 8 21 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1:50.473 7 22 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1:52.287 5 Q1 107% Time 1:54.152 Hamilton pips Rosberg to dramatic Singapore pole Lewis Hamilton Alonso hopeful of fighting for victory FERRARI driver Fernando Alonso is hopeful that he will be able to challenge for victory during today's Singapore Grand Prix. Alonso was beaten by the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers in qualifying, but finished just 0.226 seconds slower than pole- sitter Lewis Hamilton. "Obviously we were competi- tive in free practice. In qualify- ing we seem to lose ground but today we remained competi- tive," said Alonso. "It's a very good fifth, only two tenths from pole. It gives us a possibility to fight with the leaders; hopefully we can have a good opportunity." Alonso's team-mate, Kimi Räikkönen, had to settle for sev- enth after a car issue struck on his last Q3 run. "We struggled a bit at the be- ginning of the weekend, but this morning we changed the car and it was to my liking," explained Räikkönen, who had topped the timesheets in the opening phase of qualifying. "Then we got hit by the prob- lem. It's a shame as we could have done a good job today. It's racing and unfortunately it happens. We'll just try and sort it out and keep pushing and im- proving things."