Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix 2014: Results, Times for Practice and Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton gained significant ground on Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg with his victory at the Italian Grand Prix last time out.
The English driver, whose patchy relationship with his German colleague continues to grab headlines, will now look to further close the 22-point gap currently separating the pair heading into the Singapore Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel won last year's race around the Marina Bay street circuit, the only night contest on the Formula One calendar.
However, Vettel toils in sixth place heading into the 14th race of the season this time around, meaning most of the attention will remain on Hamilton's battle with Rosberg at the top.
The current leader's mistake in Italy, which saw him miss the first chicane as Hamilton passed, has led to conspiracy theories over whether it was a deliberate call, per Daniel Johnson of The Telegraph.
While Hamilton refused orders to move out of Rosberg's way in Hungary, something his team-mate retaliated to by allegedly admitting he deliberately knocked Hamilton off course in Belgium, Johnson believes the explanation for the Italian result is far more simple:
"Discarding the practicalities of such a plot – not to mention Rosberg’s willingness – it appeared all the more outlandish given that there was a much more humble explanation: Hamilton put his sparring partner under intolerable pressure at 220mph, and he cracked.
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The season's main storyline continues to develop as we head toward Singapore. Just six opportunities to gather points remain, meaning both Hamilton and Rosberg need to find some race-winning consistency.
In particular, Rosberg's 21st finish in Monza leaves him needing to topple his team-mate's confidence, reasserting dominance in the process.
Singapore will further the storyline on a weekend that could be pivotal to the overall championship.
Here, you can follow all the results from practice and qualifying sessions as they unfold.
P1: Alonso Topples Hamilton and Rosberg During Opening Session
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Fernando Alonso continued his impressive form by coming out on top during the opening practice session in Singapore. The Spaniard, who currently sits fifth overall in the drivers' standings, jumped ahead of both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg after posting a best time of 1:49.056 across his 16 laps.
Alonso is currently an outside bet for this season's crown, despite driving well in a Ferrari car that should be considered below the outfit's usual quality. The former champion finished over a second ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and will be extremely pleased with his consistency as we head toward the latter races of the campaign.
Sebastian Vettel, who has rarely looked capable of defending last year's crown, suffered an opening to forget during his trip onto the Marina Bay street circuit. Vettel's engine failed on track, meaning he won't be ready to start second practice, per BBC Sport.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner provided a little information, saying, "It looks like an engine problem, a sudden loss of engine oil pressure, which usually means something pretty nasty," per the aforementioned report.
One of the day's other notable points came with the appearance of Bernie Ecclestone, who admitted he was "behind" the decision to limit radio communicaton between drivers and their teams. These restrictions were relaxed prior to practice, per Luke Smith of NBC Sports, but "driver coaching" still isn't permitted.
Alonso's early dominance certainly increases pressure on Hamilton and Rosberg. Although Hamilton will be be content with starting the weekend ahead of championship leader, the Englishman will need to work avidly if he's to repeat his victory from 2008.
Despite continued bad blood between the Mercedes drivers, both appeared in good spirits ahead of a pivotal race. Rosberg did run wide at turn 10 with little time remaining, but this wont affect his confidence, reported by ESPN F1.
You can check the full rundown of times from the first practice below, courtesy of Formula 1:
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time/Retired | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:49.056 | 16 | |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:49.178 | 0.122 | 23 |
| 3 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:49.205 | 0.149 | 24 |
| 4 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:49.874 | 0.818 | 27 |
| 5 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:50.122 | 1.066 | 21 |
| 6 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:50.539 | 1.483 | 11 |
| 7 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:50.783 | 1.727 | 19 |
| 8 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:50.922 | 1.866 | 21 |
| 9 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:50.990 | 1.934 | 26 |
| 10 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:51.131 | 2.075 | 23 |
| 11 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren | 1:51.217 | 2.161 | 24 |
| 12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:51.604 | 2.548 | 23 |
| 13 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:51.953 | 2.897 | 20 |
| 14 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:52.125 | 3.069 | 25 |
| 15 | 77 | Valterria Bottas | Williams | 1:52.146 | 3.090 | 19 |
| 16 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber | 1:52.171 | 3.115 | 15 |
| 17 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 1:52.237 | 3.181 | 22 |
| 18 | 8 | Romain Grosjen | Lotus | 1:52.906 | 3.850 | 26 |
| 19 | 9 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 1:54.113 | 5.057 | 15 |
| 20 | 10 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham | 1:54.475 | 5.419 | 26 |
| 21 | 17 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham | 1:54.607 | 5.551 | 21 |
| 22 | 4 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 1:55.170 | 6.114 | 17 |
P2: Hamilton Gets the Better of Alonso and Leaves Rosberg Trailing
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| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:47.490 |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:47.623 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:47.790 |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:48.031 |
| 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:48.041 |
| 6 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:48.358 |
| 7 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:48.435 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1:48.653 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:48.751 |
| 10 | Daniil Kvyat | STR-Renault | 1:48.770 |
| 11 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Renault | 1:48.800 |
| 12 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Reanult | 1:49.062 |
| 13 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:49.075 |
| 14 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1:49.139 |
| 15 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:49.170 |
| 16 | Esteban Guttierez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:49.290 |
| 17 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:49.361 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:49.971 |
| 19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:50.612 |
| 20 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:51.558 |
| 21 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1:52.075 |
| 22 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1:52.936 |
Lewis Hamilton won the second practise session at the Singapore Airlines Grand Prix. The Englishman sped ahead of first stage winner Fernando Alonso. Hamilton also left fellow Mercedes driver and Championship rival, Nico Rosberg trailing.
The big talking point entering the second practice session was the race status of Sebastian Vettel. The German Red Bull Racing driver, who has dominated previous instalments of this race, experienced engine failure during the first practice. That ruled him out of the initial fray, but Vettel returned late on to post a solid time.
The rest of the field took advantage of the early absence of the driver who has won the last three Singapore grand prix's and owned poll position on two occasions after qualifiers.
But even without Vettel, Red Bull could feel confident about their chances. The team's R10 handles corners very well, a massive advantage on the downforce high circuit that features 23 corners.
That evidence was justified by the placing of two Red Bull drivers in the top five slots. Vettel joined Daniel Ricciardo.
But even with their advantage, Red Bull's drivers found it tough to compete with the quickness of Mercedes engines. Speaking of Mercedes, teammates and fierce professional rivals Hamilton and Rosberg traded fastest lap times early on in the session.
Hamilton posted a 1:50.139 time, but was usurped almost immediately by Rosberg's 1:49.075. However, the latter soon dropped off the pace.
However, it was Pastor Maldonado's crash into the wall that really slowed Rosberg, as Sky Sports F1 reporter James Galloway has noted:
"Rosberg had just clocked the fastest first sector of all on the red-marked rubber—28.702s, which would prove the fastest of the session—just seconds before Maldonado came a cropper at Turn Ten, the sight of the crumpled Lotus E22 in the Armco enough for Race Control to throw the red flag.
When action resumed, and having already taken some of the life out of the supersoft rubber, Mercedes switched Rosberg onto his heavy-fuel race simulations while Hamilton began what proved an interrupted low-fuel effort on the supersofts. The Briton ultimately set the pace with a lap of 1:47.490, although his time through the first sector of 28.787s was eight hundredths slower than Rosberg managed before the sister W05 was forced to slow.
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Another talking point prior to the race, was the FIA revising its mandate to limit communication, via radio messages, between a team and its driver. The Formula 1 governing body amended its original ruling to only encroach on messages that address a driver's performance.
The details of the new ruling were provided by a report from Formula1.com:
"Last week teams were advised that any radio transmissions including information related to the performance of the car or driver would be considered a contravention of Article 20.1 of the sporting regulations. This states that 'the driver must drive the car alone and unaided.'
However, that list has now been revised to the below, after the FIA met with team managers in Singapore and decided to delay restricting car performance messages until next season due to the complexity of introducing such a ban at short notice and the potential for significantly differing effects between teams.
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Communication issues aside, some drivers tried out super soft tyres supplied by Pirelli for the circuits in Singapore. This was probably a ploy to gain more speed on a street track that naturally places less wear and tear on the tyres.
Ultimately though, Hamilton took to the circuit best of all. In the process, he earned a minor psychological advantage over Rosberg in the Championship race.
Hamilton entered proceedings trailing the German by 22 points, but now he's given himself a fine chance to earn poll in Singapore. After his recent win in Italy, this could be the platform for another vital win in a key race.
P3: Alonso Fastest, Mercedes Sandbagging
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Fernando Alonso was top of the shop in the final qualifying session for the Singapore Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver continued his sublime form around the Marina Bay circuit, overcoming perpetual issues with his car to post an excellent time of 1:47.299.
Trailing him was Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, with the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton posting the third and sixth fastest laps of the session respectively. We should expect more from Mercedes in qualifying though, with all indications throughout the qualifying session pointing to some potential sandbagging on their part.
With rain threatening to puncture the third and final practice session before qualifying, the vast majority of drivers were keen to get out onto the track early and find some quick times. After a big upgrade this weekend it was McLaren's Kevin Magnussen who set the early pace around the Marina Bay circuit.
He was two tenths quicker than his teammate Jenson Button in the early stages, but the British driver didn't sound overly pleased with the update after Friday's practice sessions, per Andrew Benson of BBC Sport:
"We tried a few things this afternoon that didn't work too well and considering that it's not too bad compared to the people around us.
We got a lot of information and hopefully we can improve a lot.
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Indeed, Button himself had a lucky escape at Turn 14, as he outbraked himself and had to take the escape road. But he wasn't the only driver struggling for grip around this effervescent circuit.
His compatriot Hamilton also had a close shave in the Mercedes. The 2008 World Champion looked excellent in second practice, but he nearly found himself getting a lift back to the paddock as he bumped a kerb and lost the rear end of the car. "The engine just stalled" he told his mechanics, but he would have been well aware any potential damage accrued could have caused him to miss qualifying.
Hamilton's sloppy session continued when he ran wide on one of his hot laps, putting him seven tenths of a second behind teammate Rosberg, who was leading the standings at this point with an impressive time of 1:48.575.
Ferrari had started the weekend in excellent form, with Alonso topping the time sheets at the end of P1, but rumours have engulfed the team since then regarding a potential move away for the Spaniard, as Benson explains here:
"Speculation continues to swirl around Ferrari, a team which gives the impression of being in constant turmoil at the moment.
Fernando Alonso is clearly frustrated at the car's performance—and even more so this weekend, apparently, at what he has called disruptive rumours in the Italian media about a seat swap between himself and Sebastian Vettel. It's clear all is not well between the Spaniard and the team, but the signs are this might be a better weekend for them on track.
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After impressing in the final practice session's qualifying simulation runs and during long stints around the Singapore circuit, the Spaniard will be hoping for an overdue strong performance in qualifying and for those of a red persuasion, hopefully the race too.
But as has been the case for the majority of the season, it looks unlikely that any drivers will be capable of getting close to the Mercedes duo in the qualifying sessions, who looked a little off the pace when setting their respective fastest laps of the session.
There were signs of sandbagging from the team that tops both the driver's and constructors' championship standings too, so expect both drivers to turn the screw by the time Q1 comes around.
Aside from Alonso—who is a two-time winner here—Ricciardo looks the most likely man to trouble Hamilton and Rosberg, but that'll most likely come as a result of race craft, not qualifying prowess.
Rosberg will be delighted to get some qualifying simulation laps under his belt after his attempts were scuppered on Friday following Pastor Maldonado's crash, and despite looking second best to Hamilton over the course of the first two practice sessions, finishing ahead of his teammate here will surely give the German an injection of confidence ahead of a crucial qualifying stint.
Full results courtesy of Formula1.com:
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Qualifying: Hamilton Steals Pole at the Death
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Lewis Hamilton will start the Singapore Grand Prix in pole position after an excellent qualifying display.
The Mercedes man posted a time of 1:45.681 to finish top of the time-sheets, and he’ll be joined on the front row by his teammate Nico Rosberg as both drivers look to seize the initiative in the battle for the World Championship.
The Red Bull pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel will be in hot pursuit though, as they get set to start the race in third and fourth respectively. Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen put in decent displays for Ferrari too, they'll start in fifth and seventh respectively, with Williams' Felipe Massa in sixth.
Massa's Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas will start in eighth and trailing him will be McLaren's Kevin Magnussen in ninth; Daniil Kvyat rounds off the top ten.
The Marina Bay circuit looked magnificent lit up in the dark, and we were treated to a qualifying session worthy of this wonderful street circuit.
Vettel endured a frustrating first qualifying session as he was hampered by a couple of slower drivers during a hot lap. But while he was initially visibly annoyed with Marcus Ericsson and Kvyat for blocking the racing line, the reigning World Champion recovered to make it comfortably through to Q2.
The first session was an exceptionally close one, and all the drivers on track chose to opt for the super-soft tyres to give themselves the best possible chance of qualification. But for the Caterham duo of Ericsson and Kamui Kobayashi and the Marussia pair of Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi, it wasn’t enough, as the foursome were unable to make it to the next session.
Joining them in the drop zone were Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado—who missed out on Q2 for the fifth consecutive race—and Sauber’s Adrian Sutil. And while it was familiar faces dropping out at the back, at the front it was all change.
The Ferrari twosome of Raikkonen and Alonso were first and second fastest in the session respectively. Perhaps the Mercedes duo would finally have a fight on their hands in a qualifying session?
Q2 would certainly give us a much clearer indicator of which drivers were likely to be battling it out at the front of the grid, and Raikkonen was the first of the big hitters to set a fast time, one which Alonso undercut not long after; the strong performance from Ferrari in Q1 was no fluke, it would seem.
But Mercedes were clearly up for the fight, and Hamilton pipped the Ferrari pair in the initial round of hot laps, although there was only one tenth of a second separating the top three drivers; Rosberg bettered all their times by circa half a second later in the session.
With the top men seemingly secured in their passage through to the final qualifying session, attentions turned to the battle at the bottom of the standings and who'd make it in to the top ten.
The Force India pair of Nico Hulkenburg and Sergio Perez missed out on Q3 after finishing in 13th and 15th respectively. Romain Grosjean also missed out in the Lotus after he could only finish 16th, and Esteban Gutierrez could only finish 14th in the Sauber.
Jean-Eric Vergne was 12th for Toro Rosso, and Jenson Button also narrowly missed out on a top-ten finish, finish in 11th place; the McLaren man was just 17 thousandths of away from tenth spot.
Grosjean in particular was extremely unhappy about failing to make the final qualifying session, as BBC Sport notes here:
"'I cannot believe it, bloody engine, bloody engine,' says Lotus Romain Grosjean on team radio to which his race engineer says: 'Understand Romain, I'm very sorry it's the same issue as we had in P3. Grosjean responds: "I don't care, I don't care, it's too much.'
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So for the first time in a while, we looked set for a well contested final qualifying session and all eyes were on Ferrari to see if they could match the might of Mercedes at the sharp end of the session.
But none of the big hitters had a stellar first lap, and it was Felipe Massa who topped the standings at the end of the first round of hot runs. Alonso and Raikkonen found themselves in third and fourth respectively, while the Mercedes pair of Hamilton and Rosberg—somewhat unfamiliarly for them—found themselves down in sixth and seventh respectively.
But, disappointingly, Raikkonen's qualifying session was cut short early as he had a problem and subsequently had to pull up.
Ricciardo—who was in second place after the first round of hot laps—overhauled Massa after his second hot lap, but with the two Mercedes drivers in pursuit there was always a danger of his time being undercut. And that proved to be the case, as Rosberg crossed the line in 1:45.688 to beat the Australian.
Hamilton had started his lap poorly, but had got momentum together through the middle and final sectors, but was touch an go as to whether or not he had enough to beat his teammate. But by just seven thousandths of a second, he took a dramatic pole position.
With Hamilton leading and Rosberg in pursuit, it's set to be another enthralling race day. On a windy, narrow street circuit like Marina Bay, starting at the front is absolutely vital and it'll be intriguing to see how aggressively the two Mercedes drivers approach this race off the line with vital World Championship points at stake.
Full results courtesy of Formula1.com
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