One five-place grid penalty going into qualifying for Nico Hulkenberg of Williams, for changing a gearbox. But he's been doing well during the weekend so far despite the conditions, and it should not hurt him too much. The conditions are bad, with a damp track refusing to dry out thanks to the humid conditions.
Qualifying Round 1: It did not go well for Filipe Massa. His car stopped on track before he could set a time, so he ends up at the back of the track. Red flags went up to stop the session just before half-way. This would be a good time for Ferrari to use a ninth engine on his car, since the penalty will not affect their result.
So it looked like the usual six would be joined by Massa at the back of the grid. Replacing Yamamoto for the weekend, Klien – who hasn't done a qualifying session for four years – still beat his Hispania teammate Senna to come 22nd.
Qualifying Round 2: A problem for Petrov had him spinning and hitting the wall, causing him to break his right-rear suspension. The slipperiness of the track had many drivers spinning or sliding their cars. Poor old Alonso also had a bad session, setting a time but having trouble with his telemetry. But after a short stay in the pits he was out again. And it was Vettel who broke Kimi Raikonnen's 2008 lap record of 1:45:599 by 38 thousandths of a second.
In the end, Schumacher scraped through to Q3 – unusual for him this season – and Jaime Alguersuari got eleventh. Hulkenberg went twelfth, which drops him down to seventeenth.
Qualifying Round 3: Almost everyone went out straight away, and Alonso set an even faster time than Vettel had in the previous round to take provisional pole. With the long length of the laps, they had to fuel as fast as possible, but be careful not to leave too little time to set a lap. And in a crazy final run, Alonso beat Vettel as the Red Bull didn't quite manage to get enough time to beat him. Button got ahead of Webber, and just behind Hamilton. For the record, the fastest lap time at Singapore is now 1:45:390.
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