Formula 1 Singapore: Results from qualifying

Thanks largely to luck and a brand new chassis, Lewis Hamilton put Friday's free-run problems behind him as he went on to clock the quickest time in the final practice session before qualifying just hours ago.

Prior to that, Hamilton was complaining about the state of the Singapore street circuit after struggling during Friday's practice sessions. He said that the bumpy track caused the car to ride badly, leading to unnecessary “bumping, bouncing and sliding”. All these complaints made despite the organizer’s claim that the identified problematic areas had been “smoothened out and widened”.

Grouses aside, the world champion did 1m 47.891s in his McLaren during his final qualifying session. But this was made possible also with the help of Rubens Barrichello, who crashed his Brawn in Turn 5 during his final run. The red flag came out, bringing the qualifying session to a complete halt.

Sebastian Vettel will be behind Hamilton at the race, with hot favourite Nico Rosberg in third. Vettel and Rosberg clocked 1m 48.204s and 1m 48.348s respectively. Mark Webber will start at the fourth position after clocking 1m 48.722s, Barrichello at fifth (1m 48.828s) and Alonso at sixth (1m 49.054s).

The bad news hasn’t stopped for Barrichello though. After crashing and being able to only achieve the fifth position, he had been dropped five grid places to 10th. This came after he had his gearbox changed after the final practice session earlier this evening – according to regulations, each gearboxes must last four race weekends.

His team mate, punter’s favourite Jenson Button, will start at the 12th place. Button’s Brawn is currently facing problems adapting to the circuit.

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[I](Oneshift.com is reporting live from Swissotel The Stamford)[/I]

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