Singapore GP 2009

SEPTEMBER 26, 2009

Qualifying Report - Hamilton takes pole as Barrichello crashes

Lewis Hamilton, Singapore GP 2009
© The Cahier Archive

Lewis Hamilton took his third pole position of the season at the Singapore Grand Prix, in a shortened Q3 session that saw Rubens Barrichello hit the wall in the closing seconds, bringing out a red flag which stopped all the other drivers final hot lap.

Sebastian Vettel joins him on the front row of the grid in the Red Bull, keeping his title hopes alive as the two Brawn cars struggled.

Nico Rosberg was third in the Williams, the second Red Bull of Mark Webber was fourth and Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello was fifth, but will have to drop five grid positions because of a gearbox change.

Because of this, Fernando Alonso will start fifth, Timo Glock sixth, ahead of the two Sauber BMW's of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica, and Heikki Kovalainen starting ninth.

With Championship leader Jenson Button failing to get out of Q2, he will start the race 12th, which will give the Red Bull team a good chance to close the 41.5 point gap on the Brawns in the Constructors' Championship with a good result on Sunday.

Ferrari suffered a difficult qualifying season with Kimi Raikkonen 13th and Giancarlo Fisichella 18th. It is the first time this season that the team has failed to get a car into the Q3 session.