Hamilton snatches pole from Rosberg in Singapore

Mercedes AMG Petronas

Lewis Hamilton snatched pole position from Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg during a thrilling conclusion to Saturday’s qualifying session for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Hamilton locked up into the first corner on his final flying lap in Q3 but was able to recover to beat Rosberg by just seven thousandths of a second.

The pair were only sixth and seventh following their first runs in Q3 but Rosberg hit the front, before Hamilton lowered the benchmark further.

Red Bull duo Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel locked out the second row of the grid.

Ferrari briefly threatened to spoil the party after topping Q1 courtesy of Kimi Räikkönen, but in Q3 Fernando Alonso could come only fifth, while a power problem prevented the Finn from setting a final lap and he was seventh.

Felipe Massa was on provisional pole position after the first runs but slipped to sixth, with his Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas in eighth.

Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top 10.

Jenson Button was the highest casualty in Q2 as he locked up at the hairpin and missed the cut. Jean-Éric Vergne impressed in practice but failed to set a quick enough time and was only 12^th.

Nico Hülkenberg was 13^th fastest, while Esteban Gutiérrez did well to split the Force India drivers and beat compatriot Esteban Gutiérrez.

Romain Grosjean complained of brake issues in the first knockout session but progressed, although he was the slowest runner in Q2 and will line up in 16^th position.

Adrian Sutil was unable to make it out of Q1 and informed Sauber that he was struggling for power, while Pastor Maldonado was only 18^th quickest in the Lotus.

Both Jules Bianchi and Kamui Kobayashi were quicker than their team-mates, with Max Chilton a second behind Bianchi and Ericsson rounding out the field, 1.9s down on Kobayashi, although he missed his first run due to electrical issues.