Previous poles put Hamilton in Q3 driving seat for Singapore GP
Published:Having closed the gap on Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg with victory from the front of the grid at Monza, Lewis Hamilton will be confident he can secure his third Singapore Grand Prix pole in just seven attempts.
The Brit is clearly buoyant about his chances at the Marina Bay street circuit, where he secured pole position in 2009 and 2012.
“The city is buzzing and the track is mega,” said Hamilton. “I love street circuits. I won here in 2009 which was a really special experience, plus I had a podium – which should really have been a win – at the first race in 2008.”
Having stemmed the flow of five straight poles for Rosberg in Italy, Hamilton is understandably installed as the 4/6 favourite to record the fastest lap in Q3 once more.
This is where our hard-earned will be going, although bets on Rosberg at 13/8 wouldn’t be stringently advised against, given the German did better the Brit in last year’s qualifying.
However, given his imperious record at the maximum downforce track and the expected challenge to Mercedes from the Red Bull chassis, Sebastian Vettel may be worth a speculative punt at 20/1.
Vettel’s car is clearly way short of the benchmark set by Mercedes this season, but the four-time world champion has claimed two of the last three poles and if any track will be receptive to his 2014 Red Bull then this is it.
The Austrian-owned team are expected to be Mercedes’ fiercest competition in Singapore due to the way their cars handle heavy downforce better than the likes of Williams or Ferrari.
Meanwhile with 23 corners on the street circuit – the most of any F1 track – the flat-out speed lost to Mercedes at places like Monza is far less consequential.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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