Saturday: McLaren and Hamilton achieve pole position!

Third pole position in 4 races for McLaren-Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, it’s starting to become a habit! The McLaren-Mercedes team confirms their return to the forefront and disrupts the title contenders. It was during the Saturday morning session that the world champion started to set the stopwatch ablaze by clocking the fastest time, nearly 0.8 seconds ahead of his teammate Kovalainen, who was fourth in the last free practice session on Saturday.

But it was during the qualifying session that Hamilton’s supremacy was accentuated, notably in Q1. Ultimately, it was thanks to Barrichello’s crash that the young Brit secured pole position, benefiting from a black flag and a complete halt to the qualifying trials. The Finn Kovalainen, a victim of Barrichello’s crash, ended up in a rather unsatisfactory tenth place. The Singapore Grand Prix, always full of suspense, will not depart from tradition. The Silver Arrows will try to outmaneuver the traps of the Singapore circuit to secure a new podium, synonymous with a strong performance.

Lewis Hamilton – 1st and 1st:

It’s an absolutely fantastic result. We came here with several technical upgrades, and we didn’t know if we would be up there – especially after Friday’s sessions, which weren’t spectacular for me. My pole position was very relaxed: the car was improving more and more with each lap, and I think I could have been even faster on my last lap if the session hadn’t been interrupted. I wasn’t expecting to be in pole position today, but our pace was really good. I’m in the best position for tomorrow’s race.

Heikki Kovalainen – 4th and 9th (10th fastest):

«This is a very disappointing result for me. During the first two sessions, things went well – even if my times were not as competitive. For Q3, I didn’t have a good enough lap and made some mistakes, but I thought I would have the chance to improve my times on the second run. Tomorrow will be a tough race.»

Martin Whitmarsh – Team Principal:

«Even though today’s qualifying ended abruptly due to Barrichello’s accident, Lewis fully deserved his pole position. On the other hand, Heikki, with hard tires, failed to make a good time in Q3. Without Rubens’ accident, he would have been able to go significantly faster. Overall, we hope for nice points. The weather will be hot and humid, and we should even see some rain. The walls are close and unforgiving; the track is a beautiful challenge. »