Singapore – Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel continued his dominance in Formula One qualifying this season by winning the pole for Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix.
Vettel lapped the 3.152-mile (5.073-kilometer) Marina Bay Circuit in one minute, 44.381 seconds for his 11th pole this season and the 26th of his F1 career. The young German laid down his blazing lap early in the final qualifying stint (Q3). He struggled somewhat on his second attempt.
"On the last run, I tried maybe a little too much going into this really tricky chicane in turn 10," Vettel said. "I think I could have made it, but I decided to abort, because it's very easy to damage the car. So I went wide. I was quite happy with my first lap. All in all, it was a perfect session."
Vettel's teammate, Mark Webber, claimed the outside pole after he posted a lap at 1:44.732 on his final run. It's the fifth time this season that Red Bull has swept the front starting row. Red Bull has also won the pole in each of the first 14 grand prix in 2011.
"I'm pretty happy," Webber said. "Seb laid it down pretty hard and fast. It's pretty quick around here, and he did a great job for the pole. It's pretty rare that he makes mistakes."
Jenson Button from McLaren was third fastest at 1:44.804.
"Both of my laps [in Q3] were good," he said. "I'm pleased to be in the top- three, and I think it's a good position for the race tomorrow."
Button's teammate, Lewis Hamilton, turned a lap at 1:44.809 on his first run, but Hamilton could not attempt a second lap when his team experienced a fueling issue late in Q3. He will share the second row with Button.
"We had a fueling problem," Hamilton said. "We couldn't get enough fuel in the car, so we didn't have enough time for a second run."
Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will roll off from row three. Alonso started on the pole and won this race one year ago.
Mercedes GP teammates Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher qualified seventh and eighth, respectively, while the Force India pair of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta completed the top-10.
Vettel could wrap up his second consecutive F1 world championship in the Singapore GP. With six grand prix remaining, he holds a 112-point lead over Alonso. Webber and Button are both 117 points behind. Hamilton trails by 126 markers.
The 61-lap Singapore GP is scheduled to start at 8:00 a.m. (et).
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