Lewis Hamilton scorched to pole position in his Mercedes for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday with a red hot lap of 1min 36.015sec at the Marina Bay street circuit.
Max Verstappen of Red Bull will start second with Hamilton's title rival Sebastian Vettel third in the Ferrari.
"That felt like magic," said a delighted Hamilton of his storming lap record, which was an astonishing 3.4 seconds quicker than last year's pole effort.
"I don't know where it came from. It's one of the best laps I can remember."
2018 Singapore GP - qualifying:
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
4. Valtteri Bottas , Mercedes
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari