Lewis Hamilton described his stunning Q3 lap to secure pole position for the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Pr🤡ix as “magic”, ღadding he does not know where it came from.

Mercedes had expected to struggle to match Ferrari and Red Bull in Singapore but Hamilton turned in a sensational lap with a 1m36.015s on his first run in Q3 toꦍ shatter the lap record and seal a surprise pole.

Hamilton aborted his final run but with his nearest competitors also failing to find significant improvement, the first lap proved good enough for pole as he finished 0.ඣ319s clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and over 0.6s ahead of chief ti💯tle rival Sebastian Vettel – who was the pre-qualifying favourite.

“T♛hat was a hard qualifying session. That lap felt like magic,” Hamilton explained. “I don💃’t really know where it came from but it came together.

“Naturally I want to say a big thank you to all the team back at the 🍰factory as everyone is working so hard to pull out little extra bits and today I just managed to get it just right for that one lap.

“The next one obviously I was trying to pu💯sh a bit more. My heart is racing, I might have an anxieꦓty attack in a second!”

When asked if he could tell the first lap was special as he crossed the line, Hamilton replied: “Y🏅es definitely. Honestly I don’t think was a moment that was wide or with any 😼problems it was just perfectly to the limit.

“It felt like one of the best laps that I r🎀emember feeling.”

Heading into the weekend Mercedes had braced itself for a struggle around a circuit that has been something of a ‘bogey track’ for the team in recent seasons, with Hamilton and 🍸Bottas restricted to the third row of the grid in qualifying in 2017.

But both drivers were left encouraged following Friday practice in Singapore and confident the German manufacturer had made impro🍬vements to its c♏ar, which was reflected in qualifying.

Mercedes boss To🎉to Wolff said Hamilton’s pole lap was “the most amazin๊g lap” he had ever witnissed, adding: “It was stardust. That is what happened today.

“I want to say thank you to Brackley and Briꦏxworth, they’ve done such an amazing job to make us competitive. In Singapore who would have seen that? And both drivers played their part.

“It’s the first time that we really conquered it [Singapore] in years. I am over the moon because whatever the race 🍒result is tomorrow we have made a step forward in understanding what the car needs and that makes me happy.”

Teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified fourth and c💎ould only get wit💃hin 0.687s of Hamilton’s time.