It’s qualifying day at the Singapore Grand Prix. Max Verstappen’s day didn’t go particular well to begin with, while Lewis Hamilton absolutely crushed the opposition in Q3.

Saturday’s story…

Saturday’s running began with a warning from FIA race director Charlie Whiting about the track limits at Turn 7. Any driver touching the newly painted yellow line will lose their time in qualifying.

The heat and humidity in Singapore saw several drivers using dry ice to stay cool.

Starting later than Friday’s sessions, the sun began to set during final practice for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel obviously wasn’t put out by his Friday meeting with the wall as he continued to run right up against it.

Is Vettel wary of the wall he hit yesterday? 🤔 What do you think? 😬 He practically gives it a loving cuddle before going faster than team-mate Raikkonen 😌 No fear whatsoever!#C4F1 🇸🇬 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/BtFYWPzcCe — Channel 4 F1® (@C4F1) September 15, 2018

He followed that up with a 1:38.054.

Mercedes tried to challenge on the hypers but fell short of Ferrari’s mark.

First HyperSoft laps in and the boys go P3 and P4! 👊 #SingaporeGP 🇸🇬 #F1 pic.twitter.com/dbbnERY2rp — Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) September 15, 2018

Esteban Ocon remains one of the big headlines of the moment as Toto Wolff hit out at rival teams for “lies”, saying they don’t have the “balls” to sign the Mercedes protege.

Ocon had a near-miss with a Haas in the pits…

Easy gentlemen! ☝️ Ocon is released from his garage and nearly runs into the side of Magnussen 😐 Thankfully there's no contact 🙌#C4F1 🇸🇬 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/XiH9mdpxpn — Channel 4 F1® (@C4F1) September 15, 2018

Nico Hulkenberg is racing in his 150th grand prix in Singapore and finished Saturday’s final practice with a top-ten showing.

It was a frustrating for Max Verstappen, who had another moan about the Renault engine…

Max Verstappen ended FP3 in P6… and in a bad mood 😠#SingaporeGP 🇸🇬 #F1 pic.twitter.com/DEyXRKQdh5 — Formula 1 (@F1) September 15, 2018

It was still very hot and humid under the night lights for the all-important qualifying session…

Red Bull laid down the early marker in Q1 with Daniel Ricciardo setting a 1:38.153, 0.065 seconds quicker than Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton was very close to the cut-off point in Q1, finishing all the way down in P14.

Top work boys, through a close-fought Q1 in P12 and P14 on the UltraSoft 👏👏👏 Next up, Q2. It’s about to get serious!#F1NightRace 🇸🇬 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/3bFGQWxsuI — Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) September 15, 2018

Hamilton was able to hook it up much better on the hypersofts in Q2, so too did Verstappen who found an extra tenth on the Brit with a 1:37.214.

But there was still time for a response from Kimi Raikkonen, who pipped Verstappen by 0.020 seconds.

Q3 promised to be a six-way battle between Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull. Coming out on top was Lewis Hamilton with a utterly ridiculous 1:36.015 which came out of absolutely nowhere!

Seven of the last nine pole-sitters have gone on to win the Singapore Grand Prix…

🏁 END OF QUALIFYING 🏁 TOP TEN

HAM

VER

VET

BOT

RAI

RIC

PER

GRO

OCO

HUL#SingaporeGP 🇸🇬 #F1 pic.twitter.com/FX7k4eHe5A — Formula 1 (@F1) September 15, 2018

Follow updates and live timings from the Singapore Grand Prix with the PlanetF1 race hub