Hamilton shocked rivals so close

The Briton took his third pole at the Marina Bay circuit, but only after beating team-mate Nico Rosberg by 0.007 seconds, the smallest pole gap since the 2010 German Grand Prix.

The top six cars were separated by just three tenths of a second in what was one of the tightest qualifying session of the season.

Hamilton believes Mercedes' rivals have made a significant leap forward.

"The others have taken a step, it is a real, real surprise," said Hamilton.

"I'm just as surprised to see Ferrari competing on a lap, which is great to see, also Williams and Red Bull.

"For racing it is great. That is the most exciting qualifying session I have had for a long time. You have to be spot on and I was almost there."

The Mercedes driver secured his sixth pole of the season despite locking up during his final flying lap.

Hamilton admitted he thought pole was out of reach after that mistake.

"I just didn't really have a clean lap through the whole of qualifying," he said. "The last one was the cleanest.

"I locked up at the apex. I was down two tenths by the time I got to Turn 5, I thought it would be impossible to regain it, but the previous lap there were a couple of corners where I lost out, so I sorted them out."

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo ended up being Mercedes' main challenger, 0.173s behind Hamilton in third.

"It is definitely encouraging," said the Australian.

"Coming into the weekend I thought if we could get within two or three tenths it should give us some optimism to stay close to them [in the race].

"We are closer than we thought."