McLaren's Lewis Hamilton grabbed pole position in qualifying for Sunday's Formula One Singapore Grand Prix.
Hamilton clocked a fastest lap of 1 minute 46.382 seconds on Saturday night with Williams driver Pastor Maldonado a surprise second ahead of world champion Sebastian Vettel in a Red Bull.
Vettel, who had been fastest in all three practice sessions, finished ahead of Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button, with current championship leader Fernando Alonso fifth in his Ferrari and Red Bull's Mark Webber seventh.
Hamilton, who has won two of the past three races, was 0.442 seconds up on Maldonado and more than half a second faster than Vettel.
It was Hamilton's fifth pole position of the season and third in four races.
Alonso heads the drivers' standings on 179 points, followed by Hamilton (142), Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus (141), Vettel (140) and Webber (132).
