Lewis Hamilton took another pole position at the qualifying session for the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix, clinching his sixth pole of the season and giving Mercedes AMG Petronas its 13th pole in 14 races so far. Joining the Brit on the front row once the race starts tonight is Nico Rosberg, whose qualifying time was only 0.007 seconds short of Hamilton’s.

Getting pole position is always a great thing, although it is not a guarantee for victory. It certainly helps, though, especially as Hamilton is still trying to catch Rosberg in the drivers’ championship race. Rosberg leads 238 to 216, with five races left after Singapore.

“I lost a lot of time at the beginning of my last lap and at that point I thought pole was lost,” said Hamilton. “But I just kept going and managed to pull some time back.”

Rosberg called it the ‘most difficult qualifying session’ in his career, noting that he could not find his rhythm and struggled to find the proper balance in the initial runs. Later on, the German driver felt good and managed to pick up the pace.

Upstart Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull and teammate Sebastian Vettel took the second row behind the Mercedes cars, while Fernando Alonso of Ferrari qualified in P5 followed by Williams-Mercedes’s Felipe Massa, who has been having a resurgence of late.

Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari will start P7, followed by Valtteri Bottas and his Williams car. Kevin Magnussen of McLaren-Mercedes and Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso round out the top ten qualifiers for arguably the most popular night race.

A good start is no doubt essential for a Mercedes victory tonight. Both Mercedes drivers will come at each other hard for sure, and there’s no telling what kind of action will unfold once the race is under way.