F1 2013: Lewis Hamilton takes Pole with Williams second on the grid

1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes

2. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
6. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes
7. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault
8. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault
9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes
10.Nico Rosberg Mercedes
11.Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes
12.Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault
13.Felipe Massa Ferrari
14.Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari
15.Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari
16.Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari
17.Bruno Senna Williams-Renault
18.Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari
19.Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault
20.Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault
21.Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth
22.Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth
23.Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth
24.Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth

Martin Whitmarsh says it all - satisfied and delighted with Lewis Hamilton's Pole Position.
Jenson starts from 4th on the Grid
Courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

Pastor Maldonado showed once again that he has the raw speed but can he convert it into points tomorrow?
A great drive to second on the Grid - A strong drive and good points will be enough to ensure his seat for next season.
World Copyright: Glenn Dunbar/LAT

Bruno Senna languishes in 17th Place after a brush with the wall in Q2 damaged his rear suspension.
He might well ponder the potential consequences of the lowly qualifying position to his long term future at Williams
With the car obviously a contender the Senna car has been accident prone this weekend
World Copyright: Glenn Dunbar/LAT

Courtesy of Sauber F1

Neither of the Saubers made it into Q3. Kamui couldn't take the car into Q2 saying that he had no confidence in the car around the Marina Bay street circuit.

Both drivers struggled in Free Practice as well as in Qualifying, and, while Sergio put the car into 14th position he too was complaining that the new upgrades were not providing any downforce.

Courtesy of Sauber F1

Massa and Raikkonen were another two drivers who were completely off the pace today. Having come back from the mid season break on a high these drivers, who have performed so immaculately on the high speed tracks of Spa and Monza, are finding life very difficult here on the slow twisty street circuit in Singapore.

Kimi said afterwards that his 12th place was not an accurate reflection of the car's performance: we don’t seem to have the speed to challenge the leaders here but the car is definitely quicker than that. We’ll see what we can do in the race.

Felipe Massa did not help his precarious position for next year with a dismal performance relative to his teammate:

It was a very difficult qualifying. I really struggled to put together a good lap, suffering particularly in the final sector, where the rear tyres were sliding and, as a result, were degrading. It’s a problem I’ve had since yesterday and we did not manage to fix it. Let’s hope we can do something for the race, otherwise it will be really hard.

Alonso in 5th was quite disappointed with his result:

Today, pole position was absolutely out of our grasp: Hamilton was on another planet... We must settle for this fifth place but that doesn’t mean we are not hoping to improve on it tomorrow: our target is the podium. The result pretty much matches what we expected after yesterday, given that right from the afternoon we were not particularly brilliant. The only surprise this evening was Maldonaldo and it was really unexpected to see him on the front row. Here, the performance difference between the two compounds is probably the highest of the whole championship; between one and a half and two seconds, which could be an important factor tomorrow also. It’s true the Softs can last longer but it’s also true that, with such a significant difference, the Supersofts could also be an interesting option. I expect a lot of pit stops, specifically because of the tyre degradation.

The two Red Bull drivers were disappointed with their results of 3rd and 7th but at least the race is on for Vettel while tyre strategies may be crucial if Alonso is correct with regards to their degradation.

It was also disappointing from Marussia's perspective. Having outpaced both Caterhams across all of the Free Practice sessions they failed to convert that into a real result in qualifying, Still, at only 2 tenths behind the Heikki in Qualifying pace the team have shown a very marked improvement. One to watch over a race distance.