Singapore GP Qualifying: Hamilton hammers, Vettel peaks too soon.

It's going to be a very interesting first lap tomorrow what with old friends Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado sharing the first row.  Maldonado knows the stewards eyes will be on him but the margin of error here at Singapore is nothing.   Pass the popcorn.

Lurking behind is the other kid under surveillance, Romain Grosjean,  call him "Lucky Luke" after stuffing his Lotus into the tire barriers in Q2 without any apparent damage.  Speaking of hitting the wall, in Q3 Hamilton, apparently not content having essentially pulverized the field was on a final flier when he touched the wall with his right rear,   will there be an issue in the race?

Vettel could not match his Q2 pace in Q3, this after being the fastest guy in every practice session.  His Q2 time would have put him on the front row ahead of Maldonado and his miracle  lap but Sebastian made a mistake on his final attempt.

Alonso is a whole second down but can afford to be,  for Ferrari it will be a question of reliability, consistent race pace and tire wear.  If he gets on the podium, it's a win.   Unfortunately Alonso has to do all the work alone,  Massa failed to make Q3,   Barring a miracle in the race this will be his last Singapore GP.

Raikkonen needed more ice cream.

This will be a race of strategy,  safety cars are likely and last year it was a 3 or 4 stop race.   Pass more popcorn.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time         Gap   
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m46.362s           
 2.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m46.804s  + 0.442  
 3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m46.905s  + 0.543  
 4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m46.939s  + 0.577  
 5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m47.216s  + 0.854  
 6.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m47.241s  + 0.879  
 7.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m47.475s  + 1.113  
 8.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m47.788s  + 1.426  
 9.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             no time              
10.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             no time              
Q2 cut-off time: 1m47.943s                                   Gap **
11.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m47.975s  + 1.310
12.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m48.261s  + 1.596
13.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m48.344s  + 1.679
14.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m48.505s  + 1.840
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m48.774s  + 2.109
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m48.849s  + 2.184
17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     no time
Q1 cut-off time: 1m49.809s                                    Gap *
18.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m49.933s  + 2.245
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m50.846s  + 3.158
20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m51.137s  + 3.449
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m51.370s  + 3.682
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m51.762s  + 4.074
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m52.372s  + 4.684
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m53.355s  + 5.667
107% time: 1m55.226s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2