Sebastian Vettel to start last in Singapore after suspension problem in qualifying

Sebastian Vettel will start at the back of the grid at the Singapore Grand Prix after a suspension problem saw him fail to make it out of the first session in qualifying.

The Ferrari driver, who suffered a broken anti-roll bar on his SF16-H, could only manage the slowest time during Q1 before being forced to return to the pit lane.

With a back-of-the-grid start confirmed, Ferrari have taken the opportunity to complete a tactical engine change and install a sixth unit of the season. Although it triggers a grid penalty for breaching penalty-free limits, Vettel is already at the back of the field, the most severe sanction.

He will therefore avoid a more costly drop later in the season when a sixth unit would eventually have had to be used.

A sixth engine, turbocharger and MGU-H have been installed, in addition to a new gearbox, which adds up to a nominal 25-place penalty.

Speaking on Saturday, Vettel told Sky Sports F1: "It felt like an anti-roll bar broke but we need to have a look, what's most important is that the second car doesn't have damage like that. We couldn't save the car for the second qualifying and have a look, unfortunately we ran out of time.

"Obviously I was a bit annoyed because first we decided to go for another lap but it wasn't really any quicker. Then we decided to pit to try and fix it but there was no time to do it."

Vettel was victorious on the streets of Singapore last season after qualifying on pole, but will begin the race on Sunday alongside Manor's Esteban Ocon on the back row.

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Fighting back from a last-place start on Singapore's streets represents one of the tougher challenges in F1, with the circuit not especially favourable for overtaking.

But Vettel, who has never finished outside of the points in the race's eight previous runnings, does not believe all is lost yet. 

"It is what it is now. At least we've got some new tyres for tomorrow, so we'll have to see if we can do something, depending on Safety Cars," he said ahead of a race which has featured a caution period every single year.

"It's not impossible to overtake. We should be quite a lot quicker than the first couple of cars, but let's see."