Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel secures pole position with an incredible lap to leave title rival Lewis Hamilton in the dust

Vettel was 0.323 seconds quicker than Red Bull's Max Verstappen, with the German hopeful of reclaiming the World Championship lead from Hamilton on Sunday evening

David Tremayne
Singapore
Saturday 16 September 2017 17:54 BST
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Vettel declared that he "loves this track" after securing pole position
Vettel declared that he "loves this track" after securing pole position

He admitted that he had hit a wall with his right rear wheel, but after one of the great qualifying laps of the season Sebastian Vettel’s car bore the scars of contact on both sides as testimony to just how hard he had to wring his red race car’s neck in search of the pace to rein in Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.

Though the four-time champion believes that Ferrari have nothing to fear from any of the remaining tracks on the calendar, as he battles with Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes for a fifth crown, this one is crucial to his quest.

This, of all of them, is the one at which Ferrari should have a clear advantage, just as they did in Monaco and Hungary. With Hamilton having won three of the last four races to take the points lead for the first time all season, Vettel desperately needs a big result.

Yet Ferrari struggled all day Friday and again in Saturday’s practice session. And when the first of the three qualifying sessions was over, a rash of improvements had shoved him down to 12th place, one behind team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, as Hamilton chased the rampant Red Bulls. Ferrari were well off their pace.

Shaking with adrenaline rush after he had annexed the 49th pole position of his career, Vettel admitted that he was surprised.

“We struggled yesterday and this morning,” he said, “and again in Q1. I didn’t know how the hell I was going to find a second. But then in Q2 the car was like a switch, I could just turn it on.

“I brushed the wall in Turn 19 on my second run – actually, it was a big hit! – and that left me with vibrations in the final corner, but I made it home okay.

“It was a scrappy first session yesterday but the feeling was there in the car and we just needed to get it out. And that’s what we did tonight.”

Ferrari’s engineers, both at the track and back at the factory in Maranello, had run through numerous set-ups, as test driver Charles Leclerc (who is set to win this year’s Formula 2 title and will race for Sauber in F1 in 2018) undertook countless runs in the simulator. “It was a phenomenal the amount of work they did,” Vettel said.

“We were caught off guard yesterday, when the car wouldn’t behave the way we wanted it to. But it was very, very important for us to answer all the questions we didn’t have time to sort out. I think the guys here went to bed about lunchtime! But then the conditions this evening helped us and the car really came alive as the track improved.”

Hamilton, by contrast, started reasonably but found the going tougher as the evening wore on. Despite his best efforts he was six-tenths of a second off Vettel's sudden spurt. And three behind the Red Bulls. He will start fifth.

Hamilton will start the race in fifth

"I was holding on to the reins for dear life," he said. "I didn't think I'd be this far off. This is a horrible track for overtaking. It's going to be a long slog tomorrow.

"We knew coming here it would be difficult. Every year it's been relatively difficult for us. I definitely didn't anticipate Ferrari would be as strong as they were. I thought Red Bull would be as quick as they were, but we still remained hopeful. I got everything I could out of the car, I gave it everything and more, literally threw the sink at it. Squeezed every single bit out of it."

Clearly mystified, having matched Vettel in the final practice session and outpaced him in Q1 and matched him again in Q2, he admitted when he saw the final lap times, "I don't know where Ferrari have picked up their pace. It's strange from race to race, it's a little bit different between us."

To a man, the top contenders acknowledge that this is one of the hardest races of the year.

Verstappen set the early pace

“It’s funny, the least physical and quickest race is Monza, which we’ve just done. Then we come to the two hardest, here and Malaysia,” Ricciardo observed.

“Basically I spent all last week at home training and getting acclimatised to these conditions, and how much you actually need to drink. I spent all day yesterday with a bottle in my hand and still struggled to go to the toilet; you just sweat it out.”

Each will accordingly play the game based on the hand of cards they hold at any given moment.

“I’m not going to look at the start in any different way to normal,” Vettel said. “I’m starting from the best place, so I will focus on that. I guess I will be racing with Max to begin with, then I’ll go from there.”

Vettel somehow beat the two Red Bulls

Verstappen, the dangerman from Ferrari’s point of view with a few first-corner clashes under his wheels, said with refreshing candour, “Yeah, I will always go for gap if it’s there and possible, if not you settle down. It’s a long race, I which anything can happen.”

Looking across at Vettel, he added: “But hopefully when I’m in the lead I’ll be able to slow down a bit and cruise home…”

Certainly, Red Bull appear to have excellent race pace.

Ricciardo, ever the joker, had kidded earlier that part of his preparation was eating lots of pasta and drinking lots of alcohol, “to get myself nice and dehydrated!” But for all that’s he’s seen as a safe guy in such circumstances, he’s a demon when it comes to pushing ever harder as a race progresses.

Ricciardo was in a relaxed mood

“My intention is always to try and go forwards. It’s hard to pass here so the start is a big opportunity and my intention will be to go for it. But we’ll see what happens.”

Hamilton, who will also have Raikkonen to deal with, the man who snatched away a possible first title from him in Brazil in his rookie season back in 2007, must rely on things coming to him.

"This is a tough track for overtaking, it's usually just a long, long train. So I think it's going to be very difficult. The start is an opportunity, strategy is an opportunity, safety cars, who knows?

"Tomorrow I'm just going to be playing the long game. It's a marathon not a sprint. It's going to be physical, it's going to be long, it could be dull. I just hope that I can pick some people off, at least get past a Ferrari at the start - that would be really helpful."

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