Singapore Grand Prix 2015 - Qualifying Analysis: Vettel takes advantage of Mercedes struggles to seal a brilliant pole.

It has finally happened. The Mercedes power unit dominance in the V6 Turbo Hybrid era has ended with a brilliant pole position lap from Sebastian Vettel in the prancing horse at this years Singapore Grand Prix. Vettel stormed to pole with a 1:43.885 lap, 5 tenths ahead of his nearest rival Daniel Ricciardo.

Pole sitter: Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari

The Mercedes problems from Friday Practice 3 continued onto qualifying as they didn't top Q1, Q2 or Q3 only managing a mediocre 5th and 6th place on the grid. It is Mercedes worst qualifying since the 2013 US Grand Prix where Lewis Hamilton only qualified 5th with Rosberg in 14th. This is also the first time since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix that a Mercedes powered car hasn't been on pole.

Mercedes only managed 5th and 6th.

Everyone has been talking about the amazing performance of Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari and a lot of people have forgotten about Kimi Raikkonen who managed an excellence 3rd place on the grid to really back his team mate up. He couldn't quite make it a 1, 2 for Ferrari as Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull spoiled the party. Ricciardo had a great lap after a poor first sector and mediocre second sector but he bounced right back to go purple in the final sector, leaving millimeters between him and the wall in Turn 21. Daniil Kvyat backed his Red Bull team mate up with a career best 4th place on the grid.
Williams would have also been happy with there grid slots as they overcame there traction problems and got both cars into Q3. Bottas got the better of Massa though and finished 7th with the Brazilian coming home in 9th place. Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso split the two Williams and finished in 8th.

Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10 as he managed to squeeze into Q3 for Lotus. He didn't have his team mate to back him up as Pastor Maldonado showed his inexperience and why he truly is a payed driver as he could only managed 18th place on the grid. There really is no excuse for such a poor effort when your team mate can get up to 10th.

It was unlucky 11th again for Nico Hulkenberg after he missed out on Q3 due to yellow flags on his final run. They were bought out after Carlos Sainz hit the wall coming out of Turn 19. This disrupted the laps of everybody and saw both Force India's, McLaren's and Sainz himself instantly lose there chance to get into Q3. Force India will have been very disappointed after thinking they were in for strong Q3 points.

Daniel Ricciardo starts from the front row for Red Bull.

The last 5 slots on the grid were Maldonado as well as both Saubers and Manor-Marussias. Felipe Nasr led that pack in 16th, with his team mate Ericsson behind in 17th. Then came Maldonado's poor effort with Will Stevens getting the better of his team mate in the Manors taking the back row.

The grid order for Sunday looks like this:

1) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
2) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
3) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
4) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault
5) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
6) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
7) Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes
8) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
9) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
10) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes
11) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
12) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda
13) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
14) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
15) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda
16) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
17) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
18) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
19) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari (5 Place Grid Penalty)
20) Alexander Rossi - Manor-Ferrari (5 Place Grid Penalty)

For me, Practice 3 and Qualifying has raised so many questions. Can Mercedes still win at Marina Bay? Red Bull gave them a real fight last year, as Lewis Hamilton feared his tires blowing up. Is 5th too far back for them? They haven't showed any long run pace and I don't think they have fixed there degradation problems. Can Red Bull win for the first time in 2015? This is realistically there last shot, and Daniel Ricciardo is pretty well placed to take Vettel off the line. Can Ferrari hold on and take there third win of the season and achieve the target they set for themselves at the start?

I can't wait for all these questions to be answered when the lights go green in just under 12 hours!

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