Vettel came out on top, giving Ferrari their first pole position since 2012 with a masterful lap around the floodlit Singaporean track.
The pole, Vettel's 47th, ended a run of 18 in a row for world champions Mercedes who had Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton right behind the two red cars in third and fourth places.
Ferrari unveiled their new Formula One car, the SF70-H, with the minimum of fanfare after a disappointing 2016 season but plenty of hope among fans that the Italian team will return to winning ways.
Max Verstappen won Red Bull's home Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday while Lewis Hamilton suffered his first race retirement since 2016 and lost the Formula One championship lead to Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
Finnish team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who started on pole for the first time in nine years but lost the lead in the pitstops, made sure of a Ferrari one-two with Hamilton finishing seventh for Mercedes after starting 13th.
Formula One's governing body has banned teams from sending drivers coded messages under a controversial clampdown on the use of radio communications from this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.
'I appreciate the quest for safety but this is Formula One and the way it is now is perfectly fine' 'I am sad for the sport... it doesn't look right from outside when in one week we change the qualifying format three times'
Charles Leclerc seized the first pole position of his Formula One career on Saturday with Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel second fastest to lock out the front row for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Hamilton, eight points behind Vettel after 10 races, qualified 14th.
Ferrari had every hope of winning their home Italian Grand Prix for the first time since 2010 on Sunday and they blew it.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has received a flurry of criticism from the Formula One world, including legendary driver Niki Lauda who asked him to consult a psychiatrist after the teenage driver was involved in a three-car collision in last week's Belgian Grand Prix.
'The phenomenal Max Verstappen was both sloppy and superb in Germany, getting caught out during the first two starts, and even spinning his car around to give the crowd something to gasp at with a Batmobile-esque 360 degree turn. 'After Hamilton crashed and Verstappen sniffed victory, though, he pounced hard, put his foot down, and took a deserved race win,' says Rediff's F1 columnist Raja Sen.
Following's Verstappen's 2021 title win, here's a list of F1 champions over the years...
Stewards were investigating whether the Mercedes driver, who won from 14th on the grid, illegally crossed a line separating the entry from the track when he hurriedly changed his mind about pitting during a safety car period.
Mercedes' British driver Lewis Hamilton won the Brazilian Grand Prix at the Interlagos Circuit in Sao Paulo on Sunday to keep the Formula One Championship alive with one race left this season.
Sahara Force India's six-race point streak ended at the German Grand Prix as Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil finished 11th and 13th respectively, at the Nurburgring circuit on Sunday.
Quadruple Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel went for five on Friday with the German choosing to have that numeral on his car when he is eventually deposed as number one.
Germany's Nico Rosberg won the Italian Grand Prix for dominant Mercedes on Sunday to cut teammate Lewis Hamilton's Formula One world championship lead to two points with seven races remaining.
Ferrari have parted company with chief designer Nikolas Tombazis and engineering director Pat Fry, two of the men responsible for designing this year's car as the team endured their first season without a win since 1993.
"It was a really bad accident, pretty unlucky," Perez told reporters of his crash at the Hungaroring.
Lewis Hamilton won a dramatic Russian Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday to take a huge step towards his third world championship after Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg retired with throttle failure.
The 31-year-old German fell 30 points behind race-winner Hamilton after a collision with the Briton left him struggling to finish fourth in Monza last time out, one of several races where Vettel has frittered away a position of authority.
Diehard F1 followers dotted the hills around the Hungaroring.
Will things be the same at Bahrain? Here's where we look to the front - by looking at what we've learnt.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Ferrari were already feeling the frustration and Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix added a measure of embarrassment to the mix for Formula One's most successful and glamorous team.
Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton ousted Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg from the top of the timesheets in Italian Grand Prix free practice on Friday. The Briton, chasing his 50th grand prix win on Sunday, enjoyed a sunny afternoon at the Monza circuit with a fastest lap of one minute 22.801 seconds on the supersoft tyres after being second to Rosberg in the morning. Rosberg quickest effort then was a 1:22.959, with the German lapping in 1:22.994 after lunch.
For the first time in F1 history, two four-time champions are on the same grid and vying for their fifth title.
Team boss Christian Horner said Verstappen's lap of one minute 22.109 seconds was one of his best of the year and the Dutch driver sounded remarkably relaxed given the amount of pressure on him.
Newly-crowned four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel showed no signs of easing up as he led a Red Bull one-two in free practice for the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix.
Paul di Resta retired in the first lap for the first time in his F1 career and Adrian Sutil finished 16th at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on Sunday as Sahara Force India returned without points for the fourth time in the season.
Mark Webber has tipped fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo to replace him at Formula One champions Red Bull next season.
Unlike the Australian GP, where the majority of drivers carried out only one pit-stop, of Sunday's second race of the season, at Sepang, Malaysia, will see at least two, says Raja Sen.
Fans of Formula One got a taste of real-time virtual reality of the race, without the usual 30-second delay, after the 'world's first' live 360-degree technology was put to test at the Singapore Grand Prix, according to Tata Communications and Formula 1.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won a chaotic and crash-halted Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Sunday with Lewis Hamilton second for Mercedes and retaining the lead in the championship by a single point.
Lewis Hamilton can clinch his fifth Formula One world championship at Sunday's US Grand Prix.
Rain and crashes twice halted the potentially title-deciding Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday with the crowd booing and triple world champion Lewis Hamilton disagreeing with officials.
Three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who incurred a penalty that ensured he finished second behind Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel at the Bahrain Grand Prix, has issued an apology to his Mercedes team.
Sergio Perez shook off the gear-box change penalty to claim his and Sahara Force India's second podium place of the season with a third-place finish at the European Grand Prix while Nico Hulkenberg took the ninth spot, in Baku, on Sunday.
Spain's double World champion Fernando Alonso and Britain's Jenson Button will drive for McLaren next season, the Formula One team announced on Thursday.
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