Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, besting his fading championship rivals Saturday despite gambling on skipping the last flying lap of qualifying.
Already boasting a big lead in the Formula One drivers' championship standings, Vettel sat out the last section of qualifying under the lights at Marina Bay in order to save a set of the super soft tires for the race.
The decision looked questionable as Mercedes' Nico Rosberg, Red Bull teammate Mark Webber and lotus' Romain Grosjean all began strongly on their final laps and threatened to tip Vettel out of top spot. Vettel was chewing his fingernails watching on the monitors in the garage and pumped his fist when he saw his time had stood up, as Rosberg finished a tenth of a second behind him in second.
Grosjean, Webber and Mercedes' lewis Hamilton were third through fifth respectively, all within half a second of Vettel, who notched his fifth pole position of the season. "I knew we had a cushion, that is why we decided not to run," Vettel said. "The thing you don't know is how much the track improves. It was very close and it's not the best feeling when you are standing there and watching.
"I'm very happy with the result, the car has been phenomenal all weekend."
Rosberg described second place as "a great result," but said the thin margin between his time and that of Vettel was a bit misleading. "They (Red Bull) gambled a bit and I am sure they are a bit quicker than that last time, if Sebastian used another set of tires," Rosberg said.