Formula One: Nico Rosberg eclipses Hamilton for pole

Nico Rosberg seized his first ever Singapore Grand Prix pole position with a blistering lap on Saturday as he piled pressure on his championship-leading Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Rosberg scorched round the Marina Bay circuit in 1min 42.584sec, more than half-a-second quicker than Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo’s 1:43.115, with Hamilton only managing 1:43.288 for third place.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fourth, but last year’s winner Sebastian Vettel had a disaster in his Ferrari, as a broken anti-roll bar relegated him to the back row of the grid when he failed to get out of Q1.

Rosberg has never been on the podium in Singapore but he will now be hopeful of celebrating his 200th grand prix by overhauling Hamilton’s narrow, two-point lead in the standings on Sunday.

“Definitely happy with that one for my 200th grand prix,” beamed Rosberg, who finished fourth in Singapore a year ago but is in the ascendancy after winning the last two races in Belgium and Italy. “One of my top three laps ever.”

Hamilton was left to lament another difficult evening which leaves him with work to do in Sunday’s race, when he will start from the second row of the grid. “It wasn’t really a frustrating session it just hasn’t really been my weekend so far,” said Hamilton,.

Kimi Raikkonen was fifth fastest in his Ferrari and will be joined on the third row of the grid by Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr.