Whose car is powering him ever closer to Fernando Alonso at the top of the
championship? It would take a huge leap of faith on his part joining
Mercedes.
Hamilton’s chances of reducing his 37-point deficit on Sunday are looking
good, with the Spaniard only able to take fifth on the grid in his Ferrari.
History, too, is firmly on his side. Every winner of this race — apart from in
2008 when Nelson Piquet Jnr elected to shunt his car into the wall in order
to induce a safety car in one of the biggest scandals this sport has ever
known — has won from pole.
Perhaps the biggest threat to Hamilton will come from the man who unexpectedly
lines up alongside him on the front row. Williams’ Pastor Maldonado is for
the moment living up to the new slogan on his helmet “Less trouble, more
speed” but the Venezuelan has a reputation for being as quick as he is
erratic. He also has a dubious history of collisions and run-ins with
Hamilton. The 2008 world champion will breathe a lot more easily if he can
reach the first corner unscathed and still in the lead.
Thereafter it will be a case of managing his tyres around this punishing,
bumpy street circuit where safety cars are regular features of the races.
“It will be incredibly tough with the tyre degradation,” Hamilton said. “We
must stick to the strategy we have and be prepared [to change it] if it
doesn’t work.” Hamilton has looked and sounded more confident this week,
though. The presence of his mother in Singapore may be helping, but whatever
it is he is doing a good job of blocking out all the rumour and conjecture.
His interviews, too, have been noticeably more gracious with regard to
McLaren, so much so that the prevailing wisdom has probably swung back in
favour of him remaining at Woking.
There was the “1,000 per cent” comment and there was also another interesting
remark about his “great relationship” with McLaren’s sporting director Sam
Michael and the feedback he has asked for from him.
“Lewis is in a really good place,” acknowledged Whitmarsh. “It is quite
possible all the chat has caused him to put the barriers up and focus on
driving a racing car.” When he does that, Hamilton is arguably in a class of
his own.
Can Hamilton and McLaren put aside their differences and announce an agreement
in the coming weeks? Days such as this suggested they would be mad not to.
Singapore organisers on Saturday confirmed an extension of their race contract
to 2017 after agreeing a new five-year deal with Formula
One chief executive, Bernie Ecclestone.
Leading Positions after Qualifying: 1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1
min 46.362 secs, 2 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:46.804, 3 Sebastian
Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:46.905, 4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:46.939, 5
Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:47.216, 6 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India
1:47.241, 7 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:47.475, 8 Romain Grosjean (Fra)
Lotus F1 Team 1:47.788, 9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP No Time, 10
Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP No Time, 11 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India
1:47.975, 12 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus F1 Team 1:48.261, 13 Felipe Massa
(Bra) Ferrari 1:48.344, 14 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.505, 15
Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:48.774, 16 Jean-Eric Vergne
(Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:48.849, 17 Bruno Senna (Bra) Williams No Time,
18 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 1:49.933, 19 Vitaly Petrov (Rus)
Caterham 1:50.846, 20 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Caterham 1:51.137, 21 Timo
Glock (Ger) Marussia 1:51.370, 22 Charles Pic (Fra) Marussia 1:51.762, 23
Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-F1 1:52.372, 24 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) HRT-F1
1:53.355
NB: Pedro de la Rosa has a five place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox
change, but as he qualified in 24th he remains in that position.