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Journalism of Courage
Lewis Hamilton maintained McLaren’s recent dominance by claiming pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix,and said on Saturday the season was mapping out perfectly for a Formula One championship challenge.
Hamilton gave McLaren a fourth consecutive pole for the first time since 1999,and his chances of also making it four straight wins in Sunday’s race were boosted by Williams’ Pastor Maldonado snatching a surprise second place in qualifying,providing a buffer to the Briton’s title rivals. We have put ourselves in the best position,so we need to capitalize on that, Hamilton said.
Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel qualified a disappointing third after being the fastest in all three practice sessions. Maldonado provided the shock of the night by taking second. Jenson Button of McLaren qualified fourth,ahead of Fernando Alonso of Ferrari,who holds a 37-point lead over Hamilton in the championship standings with seven races to go.
However the Spaniard has made a habit of picking up big points in his Ferrari despite qualifying down the grid and will be looking for a similar performance on Sunday at a circuit where he has won twice. The top 10 was rounded out by Force India’s Paul di Resta,Red Bull’s Mark Webber,Romain Grosjean in a Lotus,and the Mercedes duo of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg,who both opted against setting timed laps in the final qualifying run.
At the tail end of the grid,Charles Pic of Marussia will have 20 seconds added to his race finishing time as punishment for ignoring red flags during practice.
