CHAMPIONSHIP leader Lewis Hamilton has warned that his hopes of winning the Singapore Grand Prix could all come down to a first corner clash with title rival Felipe Massa.
The McLaren driver qualified second for today's race with Ferrari's Massa capturing his fifth pole position of the season with what he called a "perfect lap" under the city-state's floodlights.
Hamilton was a massive 0.664 seconds slower than the
Brazilian around the 5.067km circuit and said the tight, bumpy streets would make it virtually impossible to win Formula One's first night race if Massa made no mistakes.
The Ferrari driver won the last street circuit race, in Valencia, after the pair had again qualified first and second on the grid.
"Depends who gets to the first corner first," Hamilton said. "You will not be able to overtake out there. It is going to be tough. (I will] just have to play it by ear."
The 23-year-old said his car had the potential to go quicker, which starts at 8pm local time, while Massa had already shown his hand. The Briton leads Massa by a single point in the standings with four races remaining.
"My lap was by no means perfect. Felipe said he did a perfect lap," he added. "We are not worried, we are in a very strong position tomorrow. I am happy where I am, we're looking quite good with our strategy."
Fernando Alonso's hopes of pole position were dashed when a fuel supply problem left the double world champion languishing towards the back of the field.
The Spaniard had set the fastest time in the second free practice in his Renault on Friday and repeated the feat in the final free session on Saturday ahead of qualifying for Formula One's inaugural night race.
However, Alonso's mastery of the difficult 5.067km street circuit was undone by the problem at the start of the second qualifying session, forcing the visibly angry driver to abandon his car at turn 18.
"It's a really big disappointment because we had a real chance to do something special today, perhaps not pole but at least to qualify in the top four," Alonso, who will start 15th on the grid. "Our weekend was going really well and we had big hopes for the evening."
Drivers were united in believing the Marina Bay Circuit will be almost impossible to overtake on, something Alonso was well aware of. His lowly position on the grid compounded his disappointment.
"Starting in the middle of the pack will make for a difficult race," the 27-year-old said. "We will need a miracle with the strategy to be able to make progress on this street circuit."
Renault executive director of engineering Pat Symonds also lamented Alonso's misfortune and felt the team missed an opportunity to challenge for victory. "All the way through practice Fernando has shown a potential on this wonderful new circuit better than we had all year," he said. "That makes it doubly frustrating to have this problem in qualifying which prevented the driver and the team from showing what we could have done."
Honda's Jenson Button will start in 12th while David Coulthard is two places further back in his Red Bull. "It is not good to start the race in the middle of the pack," said Coulthard.
The full article contains 563 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
