Lewis Hamilton, the world champion, continued his strong end to the season with a third pole position in four races as Jenson Button's championship hopes took a major dent as he could only qualify 12th on the grid for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Button, the world championship leader, struggled with under steer throughout qualifying in his Brawn GP car and he was eliminated in the second part of the session, leaving him with a tall order to score any points on the street circuit in today's 61-lap race.
It could have been worse for the Briton though as teammate Rubens Barrichello will start from 10th place after receiving a five-place grid penalty as a consequence of his team changing the gearbox on his car prior to the qualifying session.
The Brazilian was fifth quickest in the final part of the session before crashing on his final lap as he looked for an extra few tenths of a second, but the penalty forces him back to the fifth row.
But despite that, he still starts ahead of Button who he trails by 14 points in the title race.
Button had comfortably made it through the first session, but struggled with low tyre pressures in the second session which hurt his pace.
He missed out by three tenths of a second on progressing through to the top 10 and with the track difficult to pass on he will struggle to score many, if any, points.
A distraught Button said: "In Q1 [qualifying one] the car felt good, although we had a bit of under steer.
"In the second session we tried to help that, we lowered the front tyre pressures a bit, but I hit the floor, locked the brakes and it cost me a lot of time. It's disappointing. That's all there is to say, really."
While Hamilton took the plaudits with the 16th pole of his career in his McLaren-Mercedes with a time of one minute 47.891seconds, the real winner of the day was Sebastian Vettel.
The Red Bull driver was denied a final run at top spot by Barrichello's late crash, but the German starts second and will be confident of keeping alive his title dreams. He currently trails the Brawn driver by 26 points.
Of his race chances, he said: "At the end of the day, it is great to be back. Qualifying on a street circuit is very important and it's good to be back in front [of the Brawns].
"The car is very good and I'm feeling very comfortable," said Vettel. "We brought some stuff that seems to work. It will be a long race. It's 61 laps so it will be warm in the car but we have all that it takes. I'm looking forward to it."
A delighted Hamilton said of his showing: "The car over the weekend has just got better and better as the evolution of the track has got grippier.
"We'll see what happens with the strategies but obviously I'm in the position starting from the front."
Nico Rosberg put in his best qualifying performance of the season to take third spot in his Williams-Toyota ahead of the second Red Bull of Mark Webber. The German who has been linked with drives with the Brawn and McLaren teams for the 2010 season, was delighted with his performance.
He said: "It's really enjoyable at the moment and I'm really pleased for the team that we have made another step forward. Perhaps we can even fight for a win very soon."
Following the implementation of Barrichello's penalty, Fernando Alonso's Renault moved up to fifth ahead of Timo Glock's Toyota.
The BMW Sauber's of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica make up the fourth row, with Heikki Hovalainen ninth in his McLaren.
The surprise of qualifying was Giancarlo Fisichella's lack of pace in the Ferrari as he could do no better than 18th in his second race with the team since taking over from Luca Badoer as cover for the injured Felipe Massa.
Teammate Kimi Raikkonen fared little better as he could only qualify 13th, leaving the Finn with a lot of work to do if he is to get a fourth successive podium finish.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
Bahrain TV, 4pm.
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Correspondents
By Tim Murphy
(Grove Press)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
Results:
CSIL 2-star 145cm One Round with Jump-Off
1. Alice Debany Clero (USA) on Amareusa S 38.83 seconds
2. Anikka Sande (NOR) For Cash 2 39.09
3. Georgia Tame (GBR) Cash Up 39.42
4. Nadia Taryam (UAE) Askaria 3 39.63
5. Miriam Schneider (GER) Fidelius G 47.74
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Abramovich London
A Kensington Palace Gardens house with 15 bedrooms is valued at more than £150 million.
A three-storey penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront bought for £22 million.
Steel company Evraz drops more than 10 per cent in trading after UK officials said it was potentially supplying the Russian military.
Sale of Chelsea Football Club is now impossible.
How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
