Excellent Massa comes out on top in qualifying 

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa produced a stunning final lap to pip Lewis Hamilton to pole position for tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix. The Brazilian twice went better than Hamilton to start at the front of the grid for the night-race.

Hamilton almost had a disastrous qualification for the second successive race as he nearly missed the cut for Q3. He posted a time that was only good enough to sneak through to the pole shootout during Q2. In the final round of qualification he seemed to have done enough to win pole, but Massa produced a brilliant lap to go six-tenths quicker than the Briton.

“The car was so nice to drive and it is so great that I managed to do a perfect lap,” said Massa. “It was a great achievement. I made the corners perfect, so it is fantastic and one of the most incredible feelings a driver can have.”

The top seven looks a bit like this:

1. Massa (Ferrari)

2. Hamilton (McLaren)

3. Raikkonen (Ferrari)

4. Kubica (BMW Sauber)

5. Kovalainen (McLaren)

6. Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)

7. Vettel (Toro Rosso)