Practice and qualifying sessions 2010 Singapore Grand Prix

adrian sutil, damaged force india s suspension in crash during second practice session.

three practice sessions—two on friday , third on saturday—were held before main sunday race. friday afternoon , evening sessions each lasted ninety minutes. third session held on saturday afternoon , lasted hour. first practice session held on wet track clear sky after rainstorms earlier in day left standing water on parts of circuit, , high humidity slowed drying process. these conditions meant drivers used intermediate tyres first before dry tyres utilised in session s closing minutes. webber set fastest time of first session late lap of 1 minute , 54.589 seconds, one-tenth of second faster michael schumacher in second briefly quickest before webber set lap. adrian sutil, lap of 1:58.827, third fastest, ahead of vettel , jaime alguersuari. button, vitantonio liuzzi, sébastien buemi, kubica, , vitaly petrov rounded out session s top ten fastest drivers.

in second practice session, when track still damp in sections, vettel set fastest time of night, lap of 1:46.660 on super-soft tyres; webber finished second fastest lap. button drove aggressively , battled vettel fastest time throughout before ended third quickest lap, half second off vettel s pace. alonso, fourth fastest, ran wide @ turn 17 while on quick lap , slid down access road @ next corner; stalled while attempting rejoin track , abandoned car requiring marshals push ferrari away track. hamilton fifth, barrichello , massa in sixth , seventh places. 2 mercedes drivers eighth , tenth; nico rosberg ahead of schumacher, separated kubica. sutil s force india launched air when hit kerb @ singapore sling chicane , front-left suspension broken upon landing requiring him miss half session, , alguersuari s left-rear tyre made contact barrier avoided major damage car. sutil fined us$10,000 (£6,300) stewards because attempted drive pit lane in damaged car , did not stop @ safe position on circuit.

rain hit circuit on saturday afternoon, ending 3 hours before session started, resulting in several damp patches on circuit though air temperature remained hot. different sections of circuit dried out @ different rates making difficult drivers tell precisely how wet or dry corners were. teams ran intermediate tyres before switching super-soft tyre session progressed. drivers ran deep turn five. vettel fastest driver of session time of 1:48.028 set in last twenty minutes of one-hour period. time four-tenths faster championship rival alonso. hamilton third fastest, two-thousandths of second in front of massa. rosberg fifth, ahead of webber , nico hülkenberg. kubica, sutil , buemi completed top ten ahead of qualifying. hispania racing driver bruno senna s right-rear tyre got onto white line @ singapore sling chicane , spun. senna later brushed wall entering esplanade bridge in final minute , stopped car, causing yellow-flags shown; drivers unable improve on lap times because of limited time available.

saturday evening s qualifying session divided 3 parts. first part ran twenty minutes , eliminated cars finished session eighteenth or lower. second part of qualifying lasted fifteen minutes , eliminated cars finished in positions eleven seventeen. final part of qualifying determined positions first tenth , decided pole position. cars competed in final qualifying session not allowed change tyres before race; these started race fitted tyres set quickest lap times. held in dry weather conditions. alonso fastest in first , third sessions, , clinched second consecutive pole position lap time of 1:45.390 set on first run of third session. restricted 1 timed lap in second session because of engine mapping problem, meant ferrari re-programmed alonso s engine upon discovering issue. alonso joined on front row of grid vettel, recorded lap 0.067 seconds off alonso s pace, , felt have taken pole position misjudged gap while following schumacher , brushed wall exiting singapore sling chicane. hamilton qualified third , happy starting position despite losing downforce on track s final sector while running in teammate button s tow. button secured fourth , pushed hard in final session meant had slight damage rear tyres on first run, , not optimum tyre temperature in first section on second run. webber managed fifth , admitted struggling find rhythm when driving circuit. barrichello qualified in sixth. 2 mercedes drivers took seventh , ninth; rosberg ahead of schumacher. rosberg believed should have performed better in qualifying in practice session, felt soft tyres lacked grip; schumacher satisfied qualifying performance. mercedes drivers separated kubica, in faster renault, happy lap time despite car sliding lack of grip. kobayashi rounded out top ten qualifiers.

felipe massa used ninth engine of season after gearbox failed in qualifying.

alguersuari, qualified eleventh, fastest driver not advancing final session. best time of 1:47.666 1.8 seconds slower vettel s pace in second session. alguersuari s time followed hülkenberg, backed sutil on first run in second session, , described car s balance night , day . however, hülkenberg demoted 5 positions on grid after williams team changed gearbox after race @ monza. consequence, petrov inherited 12th position having pushed hard on set of option tyres. had lost control of car after went deep, under braking, heading turn 5 (a corner damp earlier rain shower), right-rear wheel hitting wall. petrov s crash meant took no further part in qualifying. ahead of buemi, in slower of 2 torro rossos, lost large amount of grip , got stuck in traffic. heidfeld took 14th ahead of fellow countryman sutil in 15th. liuzzi had problem front brakes on first run of second session , managed 16th. timo glock, heikki kovalainen , lucas di grassi quickest drivers unable advance beyond first part of qualifying. eleventh row of grid filled jarno trulli , klien. senna took 23rd. massa unable set timed lap gearbox seized without warning forcing him stop on circuit; ferrari chose replace engine , gearbox precaution. massa s engine change ninth of season incurred ten-place grid penalty, since started 24th position, penalty nullified.