Vettel shocks Red Bulls to take Singapore GP pole

Scuderia Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel put in a blistering lap in the final session of Saturday's Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying to take pole position ahead of Sunday's race. This marks Vettel's fourth Singapore GP P1. 

Prior to Q3, it looked like the Red Bulls would be lining up on the front row of the grid. Throughout Free Practice Three and the first two qualifying sessions, the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo clearly had the pace and the run of the track, with Verstappen setting the fastest times on the track. It all pointed to Verstappen taking pole position and becoming the youngest ever pole sitter (a record currently held by Vettel). 

Through the early parts of Q1, several drivers ran afoul of some residual oil on the track (the result of a fire in the earlier Porsche Carrera Cup race), which saw them brushing the wall on the exit of Turn 20. But throughout Q1 and Q2, it was Verstappen that was consistently setting the fastest lap, and it looked like the Red Bulls would lock up the front row, with the pair of Ferraris behind them. The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton struggled to find its pace at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, and was consistently clocking times behind the two sets of competitor cars ahead. 

In Q3, Vettel showed that the Ferraris still had some pace left in them, clocking in a 1:39.669 lap to take provisional pole. Vertstappen only manage to clock in a 1:39.814 lap. On his second go around in the closing minutes of Q3, Vettel managed to shave even more time off his lap, setting a time of 1:39.491 for which the pair of Red Bulls had no answer. 

As a result, Vettel will be starting the 2017 Formula One Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix from pole position, ahead of Verstappen and Ricciardo. With seven of the past nine race winners victorious from pole position, Vettel will be looking for his fifth Singapore GP win tomorrow. 

1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:39.491
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer	1:39.814
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer	1:39.840
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:40.069
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:40.126
6	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:44.197
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1:41.013
8	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1:41.179
9	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren Honda	1:41.398
10	Carlos Sainz	Torro Rosso	1:42.056
11	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:42.107
12	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	1:42.246
13	Daniil Kvyat	Torro Rosso	1:42.338
14	Esteban Ocon	Force India Mercedes	1:42.760
15	Romain Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:43.883
16	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	1:43.756
17	Felipe Massa	Williams Mercedes	1:44.014
18	Lance Stroll	Williams Mercedes	1:44.728
19	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber Ferrari	1:45.059
20	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	1:45.570