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Alonso takes pole position in Singapore

Fernando Alonso improved his chances of claiming a third Formula One world title by storming to pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Spaniard recorded the best lap of the weekend around the floodlit Marina Bay circuit, clocking one minute 45.390 seconds in the third qualifying session to edge out Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

World championship leader Mark Webber will start Sunday’s race behind all four of his title rivals after qualifying in fifth position on a circuit where he has yet to finish a race.

Ferrari’s Alonso has scored more points than any other driver in the last four races, and had a win in Monza two weeks ago.

The Spaniard appears to have hit form at the right time and will be confident of eating into his 21-point deficit in the standings.

‘I was quite happy with my lap and I wasn’t sure if it was quick enough to get pole, second or fourth but we got 100 percent out of the car today,’ Alonso told reporters after a second day of battling tricky conditions following afternoon downpours.

‘Obviously, as you saw, it was not an easy qualifying session. We had very little time to race in dry conditions, it seemed to remain damp here throughout.

‘We were not 100 percent confident on some of the corners in practice but by the time (qualifying) came about I could push harder and both (sets of) my tyres worked really well.’

MESSY VETTEL

Three points further adrift and with five races remaining, Vettel desperately needs a win to haul himself back into the mix. The German dominated practice on Friday and Saturday but was unable to turn his supremacy into a pole position.

‘It was a pretty messy qualifying session for us after a smooth practice yesterday and this afternoon,’ Vettel said.

‘We never really got into a good rhythm and kept running into traffic. In the final qualifying session, I misjudged the gap to the car ahead but didn’t want my tyres to cool down.

‘Four corners later I was too close to Michael (Schumacher). Then I was on a good lap but lost too much time in the middle sector to recover.

‘I think we had a car good enough to be on pole but I still think it will be very good tomorrow.’

Singapore’s narrow street layout makes overtaking virtually impossible and although Alonso tasted victory in the inaugural race in 2008, he will be concerned that his Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa suffered a mechanical failure in qualifying.

The Brazilian stopped on the track in the first qualifying session with what his team described as an ‘electronic management of the gearbox problem’ and was unable to record a timed lap.

Hamilton won this race last year and despite falling 0.114 seconds short of starting on the front row the Briton was able to look at the positive side of his performance.

‘It was not such a bad qualifying session; I can’t really complain,’ Hamilton said.

‘I am on the right side of the grid, the car is working well and hopefully that continues into tomorrow and puts us in a good position.’

Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg qualified 12^th but will start 17^th on the grid after stewards imposed a five-place penalty on the German for an unscheduled gearbox change.