Singapore Grand Prix qualifying: Lewis Hamilton outpaces Sebastian Vettel to take pole

It was a race against time for Ferrari, who seemed to have issues early on with the floor of Sebastian Vettel's car.

Fortunately Kimi Raikkonen was there and firing to set the pace.

Mercedes opted to keep their drivers on the slower ultra-soft tyres rather than the hyper-softs, which allowed the Red Bulls, the Renaults and the Force Indias to outrun them as well - as well as Romain Grosjean's Haas, Fernando Alonso's McLaren and Charles Leclerc's Sauber.

Lewis Hamilton was unimpressed, and complained about his rear tyres vociferously as the chequered flag waved.

More speed for Red Bull as Max Verstappen left Hamilton standing, even on the hyper-softs, before Raikkonen moved to the top of the card once again.

Leclerc decided to do his best Lance Stroll impression for some reason, brushing the wall at Turn 21.

Hamilton promptly put in a fizzing flying lap, of 1:36.015, pushing Vettel into third and Raikkonen into sixth.

Neither Ferrari could step it up enough as the clock ticked down - the Finn improved to P5, but both were off front-row pace - slower than Red Bull's Verstappen as well.

Hamilton was slow to get going but very quick to finish - and if the Ferraris want to get anywhere near him they'll need to get past the ever-troublesome Verstappen. Could this be the qualifying session that ultimately seals the championship for the Mercedes driver?

Charles Leclerc has had a big week, with the announcement that he'll be at Ferrari next season - hitting a wall and dropping out in Q2 isn't the way he'd have wanted to mark that.

Daniel Ricciardo showed intermittent speed - but he starts behind what will be a very competitive front five. Should there be shenanigans, he's ideally placed to capitalise.

Hamilton - Verstappen - Vettel