Qualifying – Alonso snatches crucial pole for Ferrari

Fernando Alonso repeated his Monza pole position in Singapore on Saturday night as Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel failed to recover completely from a poor first run in Q3. A track that remained damp and slippery in places kept everyone on their toes.

Alonso lapped in 1m 45.390s on his first run in that final session, and though he did not improve on that on his second it remained good enough to keep him ahead of Vettel. The German moved from seventh fastest on 1m 47.937s after his first run to second in 1m 45.457s, edging McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton off the front row. The Englishman did 1m 45.571s on his first run, then failed to improve.