Lewis Hamilton clinched pole in dominant fashion, the McLaren driver’s time of 1 minute 46.362 seconds almost half a second ahead of Williams’ Pastor Maldonado who takes the second front-row slot. Only the controversial 2008 running of the Singapore Grand Prix has failed to have been won from pole position and leaves Hamilton in prime position to close the gap to Championship leader, Fernando Alonso who lines up fifth on the grid.
 

 
Qualifying Facts

• This is Lewis Hamilton’s fifth pole position of the season, and the fourth in a row for McLaren. The team converted the previous three in to victory.
• Lewis Hamilton is the only driver to have reached Q3 in every qualifying session in 2012, recording an average grid position of 3rd in the process.
• This is Pastor Maldonado’s second front-row start of the year. In Spain he went on to win after being promoted to pole position in the wake of Hamilton’s exclusion. However, that is also his last points scoring race.
• Both Mercedes drivers elected not to set a lap time in Q3 and may elect to try a different strategy from their rivals who all used the quicker supersoft compound.

 
Q3 Summary

 
Qualifying Lap Times

107% time: 1:55.226

¹ de la Rosa received a 5-place penalty for a replacement gearbox but as he qualified 24th, his starting position is unaffected.
² Pic received a penalty for overtaking during a red flag period. Twenty seconds are to be added to his race time and he must perform One days’ community service for the FIA’s Action for Road Safety campaign.
³ Senna received a 5-place grid penalty for a replacement engine and will start the race from 22nd position.

Best Sector Times

 
What are your predictions for the race? Can Lewis Hamilton avoid a first corner incident with Pastor Maldonado? Should Pic have received a harsher penalty? Who was lucky and who was unlucky today? Let us know your thoughts in the comments…

Photo: Pirelli Tyres