World champion admits he hadn't seen Leclerc's pole-winning pace coming, but "grateful" for second; Can Mercedes recover in Sunday's race? Watch live at 1.10pm on Sky Sports F1
Saturday 21 September 2019 17:53, UK
Lewis Hamilton expressed surprise at Ferrari's shock Singapore GP qualifying pace - with the world champion simply "grateful" to secure a front-row slot.
F1's world champion will start between polesitter Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel at the head of the grid for Sunday's race after a thrilling qualifying session in which Ferrari belied pre-weekend expectations that the battle for honours on the street track would be between Mercedes and Red Bull.
Hamilton had been one second adrift of the Ferraris after the first Q3 runs, but a stellar final lap when he ran the gauntlet between the Marina Bay's barriers meant he ended up pipping Vettel to second place by under a tenth of a second.
"I don't know where Ferrari picked up their pace today because this was not meant to be potentially one of their tracks, but they just did a great job," said Hamilton.
"Charles put some great laps in and I really needed something special again. So I gave it absolutely everything I had. I'm really happy to be on the front row to be in the mix with them and we can try and divide them tomorrow."
Hamilton added: "Of course, we were not expecting to have such a strong performance from them and have that deficit. I'm grateful to have split them."
Ferrari leave the Singapore 'favourites' trailing
Although Ferrari have led the field this year for straight-line speed - and capitalised to the full on that asset in the last two races at high-speed Spa and Monza - their car has lacked downforce relative to their chief rivals.
On F1's previous visit to a high-downforce circuit - the Hungaroring at the start of August - Ferrari finished one minute behind Hamilton, the race victor.
But upgrades to the front of Ferrari's car for this weekend appear to have proved game-changing for the Scuderia in such conditions.
"They are gaining a few tenths on the straights, but they are also very quick in the corners. It's just quicker everywhere," said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff to Sky F1.
"Their car is fast and we've just got to get our act together tomorrow."
Don't miss the rest of the Formula 1 season on Sky Sports F1. Find out more here to subscribe
