Zoom Top of the pile on day two of the action

Felipe Massa will start the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position from title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen. The fastest three take questions from the media.

Q: (Fréderic Ferret – L’Equipe) Lewis, with Felipe on pole and you on the dusty side, do you think it could be a remake of Valencia?
LH: Most likely. It’s the dirtier side, so it’s always the slower side.

Q: Fréderic Ferret – L’Equipe) So after the start do you think it will be Felipe in front and then you?
LH: It depends who gets to the first corner first. As I said, it’s unlikely to be able to overtake, so we might see another Valencia.

Q: (Sudhir Chandran – Chequered Flag) Question to you all, does it matter at all to have a background of dark sky against the lights? What kind of emotion does this cause: depressing, demotivating? What difference is it compared to a nicely lit background?
FM: I think I just answered this question. I think when you’re driving and you have the visibility, you don’t really care if it is during the day or during the night, you just want to get the maximum out of the car. I don’t know about these guys but that’s the way I think.

LH: I barely notice it to be honest. For sure it’s a unique feeling but it doesn’t make a difference in terms of driving your lap because you’re looking at the ground in front of you, you don’t particularly look up. But sometimes, after turn 13, you look at the straight, you open your eyes and you see everything and it’s dark but you can’t see anything there apart from a building maybe. It’s cool but it doesn’t do anything to your emotions or anything.

KR: You don’t look at the sky, so it doesn’t make any difference.

FM: I hope we don’t look at the sky.

KR: The lights are almost as good as daytime, so it’s really normal.

Q: (James Allen – ITV) Lewis, you only did one lap in Q1 whereas everyone else did two. Looking back, did that have any part to play in the problems that you had at the start of Q2? Had the others got their eye in more than you?
LH: No. I did my first lap at the same time as everyone else and it was half a second faster, so there was no need to do any more laps.

Q: (Juha Päätalo – Financial Times Deutschland) Lewis, are you worried about the gap to Felipe and what do you think that it shows about the performance of the cars here?