Leclerc wins 3rd straight pole in Singapore

Charles Leclerc gets final adjustments before winning the pole, his third straight

Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc turned a sensational final lap in qualifying to win the pole position for the Singapore GP while Lewis Hamilton managed to push Sebastian Vettel off the front row after Vettel was quickest after the first runs.

Leclerc's time of 1m36.217s was enough to deny Hamilton another pole by 0.191s while Vettel messed up his final run and ended up 0.220s behind in third.

"If you look at the lap, there were some moments where I thought I had lost the car and now I'm on pole position… The team has done an amazing job to bring the package we needed," said Leclerc.

Ferrari were expected to struggle here. The track didn't suit their car. The opposition were too strong. Don't tell that to the Monegasque driver, defied expectations and under huge pressure laid down an unbelievable lap.

"The final attempt should have been better. I was feeling good, so maybe peaked a bit early. I had a tiny wobble so no point finishing the lap," said Vettel.

Vettel put a brave face on it, but he can't be happy with being out-qualified by his team mate for the eighth straight race. As for Leclerc. Well. The real deal.

"I don't know where Ferrari have picked up their pace today, Charles put some great laps in. I needed something special and I gave it everything. I got everything out of the car," said Hamilton

Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top-5 for Red Bull and Mercedes.

More to follow…..

Qualifying Results

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:38.014	1:36.650	1:36.217	17
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:37.565	1:36.933	1:36.408	18
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:38.374	1:36.720	1:36.437	16
4	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Honda	1:38.540	1:37.089	1:36.813	15
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:37.317	1:37.142	1:37.146	18
6	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Honda	1:39.106	1:37.865	1:37.411	16
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren Renault	1:38.882	1:37.982	1:37.818	19
8	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1:39.362	1:38.399	1:38.095	18
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1:39.001	1:38.580	1:38.264	18
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Renault	1:38.606	1:37.572	1:38.329	19
11	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point Mercedes	1:39.909	1:38.620	–	14
12	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	1:39.272	1:38.697	–	14
13	10	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso Honda	1:39.085	1:38.699	–	12
14	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	1:39.454	1:38.858	–	14
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	1:39.942	1:39.650	–	14
16	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso Honda	1:39.957	–	–	7
17	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point Mercedes	1:39.979	–	–	8
18	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:40.277	–	–	8
19	63	George Russell	Williams Mercedes	1:40.867	–	–	7
20	88	Robert Kubica	Williams Mercedes	1:41.186	–	–	6