Lewis Hamilton will start the Singapore Grand Prix in pole position, his third in four races, after dominating the proceedings on Saturday.
The McLaren driver looked under pressure from Sebastian Vettel as the pair traded quickest laps during the opening sessions, but the Red Bull driver couldn’t match Hamilton’s 1:46.363 in Q3 leaving the German over half a second off the pace in third.
Pastor Maldonado put in a brilliant lap to line-up on the front-row alongside Hamilton in second, whilst his team-mate Bruno Senna made contact with the wall during the second session and couldn’t manage a timed lap. He starts 17th.
The second McLaren of Jenson Button starts fourth ahead of current championship leader Fernando Alonso, Force India’s Paul di Resta, Mark Webber and Romain Grosjean.
The Mercedes duo opted not to set times in the top-ten shoot-out to start on the soft tyre, rather than the supersoft.
Further down the grid, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa weren’t good enough for Q3 and starts 12th and 13th respectively.
2012 Singapore GP Qualifying Results (* = 5 place penaly):
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Q3 Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:48.240 | 1:46.791 | 1:46.905 |
| 07. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:48.717 | 1:47.513 | 1:47.475 |
| 01. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:48.285 | 1:46.665 | 1:46.362 |
| 04. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:49.381 | 1:47.661 | 1:46.939 |
| 17. | B. Senna | Williams | 1:49.809 | No Time | |
| 05. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:49.391 | 1:47.567 | 1:47.216 |
| 13. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:49.767 | 1:48.344 | |
| 11. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:49.547 | 1:47.975 | |
| 02. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:49.494 | 1:47.602 | 1:46.804 |
| 18. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:49.933 | ||
| 14. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:49.055 | 1:48.505 | |
| 19. | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:50.846 | ||
| 12. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 1:48.169 | 1:48.261 | |
| 09. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:49.546 | 1:47.823 | No Time |
| 10. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:49.463 | 1:47.943 | No Time |
| 08. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:47.688 | 1:47.529 | 1:47.788 |
| 16. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:49.564 | 1:48.849 | |
| 06. | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:48.028 | 1:47.667 | 1:47.241 |
| 24. | P. de la Rosa* | HRT | 1:53.355 | ||
| 15. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:49.023 | 1:48.774 | |
| 20. | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:51.137 | ||
| 22. | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:51.762 | ||
| 21. | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:51.370 | ||
| 23. | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:52.372 | ||
| Q1 107% Time: | 1:55.226 | ||||
