Hamilton claims pole

Sep 26 2009

Lewis Hamilton secured pole for Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix but there was disappointment for championship leader Jenson Button as his world title hopes were dealt a blow.

Hamilton, whose engineers worked through the night to fit a new chassis for his McLaren, impressed in practice and took that form into qualifying as he clocked a time of one minute 47.891 seconds in Q3 at the Marina Bay street circuit.

In contrast, Button had struggled in practice after his Brawn GP car had been switched to the same set-up as team-mate Rubens Barrichello earlier in the day and though they reverted it to Friday's settings, the 29-year-old could only qualify in 12th place.

Barrichello, who will be looking to cut into Button's 14-point lead, was fifth fastest before crashing with 26 seconds of qualifying remaining but will start from 10th on the grid after being hit with a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox prior to the session.