Hamilton powers to pole position

Maldonado clinches second spot; Force Indias Di Resta qualifies sixth

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton continued his surge in the second half of the season by nailing down pole position for the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix with a stirring drive around the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Saturday.

The Briton has won two of the last three races to close within 37 points of championship leader Fernando Alonso with seven rounds remaining, and will be confident of converting McLaren’s fourth consecutive pole into a fourth successive team victory.

Hamilton won this race in 2009 and became the first man to secure pole here twice with a lap of 1 minute 46.362 seconds, almost half a second ahead of Williams' Pastor Maldonado, who drove brilliantly to claim a front row spot.

“The guys have done a fantastic job all week and to come here with some small things that have improved from the last race,” Hamilton told reporters after securing a 24th pole of his career.

“It is an incredibly tough circuit for tyre degradation... especially as it is hot and humid here,” the 2008 world champion added.

“I think everyone is going to struggle with that, so we just have to try and get away cleanly at the start and try to stick to the strategy we have planned and be prepared if it doesn’t work.”

World champion Sebastian Vettel had dominated the three practice sessions prior to qualifying but his Red Bull could only finish third in 1:46.905, narrowly ahead of Hamilton’s McLaren team-mate Jenson Button.

Alonso clocked the fifth fastest time but the Spaniard has made a habit of picking up big points in his Ferrari despite qualifying down the grid and will be looking for a similar performance on Sunday at a circuit where he has won twice.

The second qualifying session claimed some major casualties in Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez but all the drivers were unanimous in their criticism of the ‘Singapore Sling’ turn 10 chicane with Vettel dismissing it as the ‘worst corner on the calendar’.

Di Resta shines

Paul di Resta matched his career-best qualifying position when he claimed the sixth place on the grid even as his Sahara Force India team-mate Nico Hulkenberg missed out on top-10.

Resta clocked his best lap in 1m 47.241 while Hulkenberg’s timing of 1:47.975 was good enough for only 11th place as he could not get into Q3.