Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton secured pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix after a scintillating performance in a rain-hit qualifying session at Sepang on Saturday.
The heavens opened at the end of the penultimate session but the reigning world champion recovered to top the timesheets ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton’s Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg was third to ensure a repeat of last year’s starting trio at the top of the grid.
The Infiniti Red Bull Racing duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat were fourth and fifth while 17-year-old Max Verstappen finished a superb sixth in tough conditions for Scuderia Toro Rosso.
The McLarens of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso were 17th and 18th fastest, meaning they failed to make the final phase of qualifying.
Briton Hamilton won the opening race of the season in Melbourne earlier this month and also secured victory in Sepang last year from pole position.
In Their Own Words:
DANIEL RICCIARDO, Position: 4th, (3rd Practice – P7, 1:40.590)
“We’ve always gone pretty well in the wet and there are still some things we can improve, but fourth is a good result for the team. The second row is a good starting position and we should hopefully have some battles tomorrow. We’re behind Mercedes and Ferrari, but we are ahead of the Williams and the conditions were tricky, so that’s good, step by step we are improving and heading in the right direction. Tyre degradation will be high, so it will probably be a three-stop race tomorrow. If we can finish in the top four, that will be good.
DANIIL KVYAT, Position: 5th, (3rd Practice – P13, 1:41.776)
“It was a decent qualifying for us, P4 and P5 is good for the team but I think on our lap we maybe went out a little early, it might have been better later on but it’s hard always to know with the conditions. Overall, there are a lot of positives to take from this weekend and we are seeing some improvements, it’s a good start.”
CHRISTIAN HORNER: “Both the team and drivers got the most out of difficult qualifying sessions today. After the rain arrived in Q2, it was always going to make life tricky and, as we saw, in Malaysia the track dries incredibly quickly; both guys got the maximum out of the car to line up fourth and fifth. Hopefully with strong grid positions we can have a good race tomorrow.”