Vettel takes pole for Singapore Grand Prix
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E-mail Xinhua, September 21, 2013
German driver Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing team got a best lap time of 1 minute and 42.841 seconds to take the pole for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday evening.
It is his fifth pole out of the 14 races so far this season.
Vettel decided not to give it any more try after three laps in the final round. Nico Rosberg of Mercedes gave him a bit of scare by getting a best lap time of 1 minute and 42.932 seconds.
Rosberg will start from the second position on Sunday. Romain Grosjean of Lotus will start from the third position with 1 minute and 43.058 seconds.
Vettel said that there was nothing he could do in the final laps but watching Rosberg and Grosjean making more attempts but "luckily" he was quick enough.
Vettel's teammate Mark Webber gets to start from the fourth position, while Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes from the fifth. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, who is now the runner-up with a total of 169 points on the drivers' standing, will start from the seventh.
Vettel is leading the drivers standing currently with a total of 222 points, which gives him a margin of 53 points over Alonso, or 81 points over Hamilton.
Nevertheless, the winner of the drivers' championships over the past three seasons said that his good performance in the last two races is no guarantee that he will win the race in Singapore.
"It's one of the toughest races we face all year. I would say the toughest, physically and mentally. One lap is so long and has so many corners," he said.
The road is very bumpy and the weather humid and hot, he added.
It is forecast to be cloudy on Sunday, with the temperature between 26 and 32 degrees Celsius.
The Singapore Grand Prix is the only night race in the Formula 1. The glamorous Marina Bay circuit has 23 corners.
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