Vettel on pole again

Mercedes' Rosberg to line-up alongside German

Sebastian Vettel continued his imperious march towards a fourth consecutive Formula One world championship by storming to pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday after dominating the two days of practice.

The Red Bull driver, who is 53 points ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso with seven races remaining, clocked a fastest lap of one minute 42:841 seconds around the floodlit Marina Bay Street Circuit.

The German will be joined on the front row by compatriot Nico Rosberg for Mercedes, who was just 0.091 seconds behind.

The second row for Formula One's only night race will be occupied by Lotus' Romain Grosjean and Vettel's Australian team-mate Mark Webber.

Lewis Hamilton will start in fifth place in the second Mercedes while Alonso languished in seventh, outqualified by Brazilian team-mate Felipe Massa.

Like Red Bull and Mercedes, Lotus have a car that suits the rigours of high downforce tracks like Singapore and despite team-mate Kimi Raikkonen nursing a bad back and managing only 13th on the grid, Grosjean drove brilliantly to qualify third.

Force India disappoint

Sahara Force India continued to struggle as Adrian Sutil will start 15th on the grid and Paul di Resta from 17th.

Driver    Team        Time           
1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany)    Red Bull               1:42.841
2. Nico Rosberg (Germany)    Mercedes               1:42.932
3. Romain Grosjean (France)    Lotus               1:43.058
4. Mark Webber (Australia)    Red Bull               1:43.152
5. Lewis Hamilton (Britain)    Mercedes               1:43.254
6. Felipe Massa (Brazil)    Ferrari               1:43.890
7. Fernando Alonso (Spain)    Ferrari               1:43.938
8. Jenson Button (Britain)    McLaren               1:44.282
9. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia)    Toro Rosso                1:44.439
10. Esteban Guitierrez (Mexico)    Sauber                DNS

Other results: 11. Nico Huelkenberg (Sauber, 1:44.555); 12. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso, 1:44.588); 13. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus, 1:44.658); 14. Sergio Perez (McLaren, 1:44.752); 15. Adrian Sutil (Force India, 1:45.185); 16. Valtteri Bottas (Williams, 1:45.388); 17. Paul Di Resta (Force India, 1:46.121); 18. Pastor Maldonado (Williams, 1:46.619); 19. Charles Pic (Caterham, 1:48.111); 20. Giedo van der Garde (Caterham, 1:48.320); 21. Jules Bianchi (Marussia, 1:48.830); 22. Max Chilton (Marussia, 1:48.930).