Singapore GP: Hamilton pips Rosberg to snatch pole

Singapore Lewis Hamilton will start from pole position in todays Singapore GP after seizing the top spot from Mercedes teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg by the narrowest of margins in the dying stages of a closelyfought qualifying sessionLewis HamiltonHamilton lapped the floodlit Marina Bay streetcircuit in one minute 45681 seconds edging out Rosberg by a margin of just seventhousandths of a secondThe lap secured Hamiltons sixth pole of the season and 37th of his career overall and puts him on the frontfoot going into todays race as he bids to chase down a 22point deficit to his championshipleading teammate with just six races to goThat is the most exciting qualifying session I have had for a long time Hamilton said after qualifying You have to be spot on and I was almost there the Briton who took pole despite a small mistake that saw him lock up on his final flying lap saidBehind the two Mercedes Daniel Ricciardo led Red Bulls charge in third ahead of teammate and triple Singapore winner Sebastian Vettel with a lap that was just a tenthandahalf off Hamiltons benchmarkThe reigning world champions are hoping to challenge the dominant Mercedes team this weekend around a circuit that given its tight and twisty nature is expected to play to the strengths of their car And following qualifying Ricciardo the only man other than the Mercedes drivers to stand on the top step of the podium this season was optimistic he could race the Silver Arrows in todays raceIts definitely encouraging the eversmiling Aussie who is currently third in the championship after having won three races so far this season told reporters after qualifying Coming into the weekend I thought if we could be within two or three tenths it should give us a more optimistic chance in the race to stay with them so yeah I think we ended up a bit closer than we thought we would particularly after yesterdaySo I think it was a good day he added Ferraris Fernando Alonso took fifth ahead of former teammate Felipe Massa in the WilliamsHis replacement Kimi Raikkonen was seventh but the Finn was sidelined by a loss of power from his Ferrari engine which left the former world champion unable to complete his final run in the closing stages of qualifyingCompatriot Valtteri Bottas was eighth in the second Williams ahead of McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen and Toro Rossos Daniil Kvyat who rounded out the top ten Yesterdays result was Mercedes seventh onetwo of the season in qualifying but it was far from the dominant display the German marque has grown accustomed to putting onThe two Ferraris Red Bulls and Williams cars all appeared to be in contention for pole and the top nine cars that set a representative time were covered by less than sixtenths of a secondHeading into the final runs of the hourlong session it was Massa who held provisional pole with Hamilton and Rosberg only sixth and seventh respectivelyI guess no one was really expecting to see so much difference and how close everyone was Hamilton said The others have taken a step it is a real real surpriseIm sure the team are surprised Im sure we are just as surprised to see Ferrari competing on a lap which is great to see also with Williams also with Red Bull he added For racing it is great