Surprise, surprise
Hamilton puts slow day behind to grab pole
AFTER struggling in practice, Mercedes’ championship leader Lewis Hamilton delivered when it mattered most to claim his fourth consecutive Petronas Malaysia Formula 1 Grand Prix pole position.
The British star driver took a huge step towards his fourth world crown after clocking a cracking 1:30.076 as Sebastian Vettel, his title rival from Ferrari, failed to register a lap time due to engine trouble at the Sepang International Circuit yesterday.
The German driver failed to set a time in Q1 and will have to start from the back of the grid for today's 56-lap race.
Vettel suffered electronic issues in the third and final practice earlier, forcing Ferrari to change the engine in his car ahead of qualifying, only completing the fix after the start of the session.
Vettel’s car then suffered a loss of power and that forced him to slow down before returning to the pits. He later complained of a possible issue with the turbocharger on his power unit.
Hamilton capitalised on Vettel’s misfortune and he did not disappoint Mercedes by setting the fastest pole time in Q3.
Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen closely matched Hamilton in the remaining Ferrari car with 1:30.121.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who turned 20 yesterday, was third fastest in 1:30.541. His teammate and last year’s winner Daniel Ricciardo completed the all-Red Bull second row line-up with 1:30.595.
But the man of the moment was Hamilton, whose pole yesterday was his fifth at Sepang – equalling German Michael Schumacher as the most successful driver in qualifying at the circuit.
The Briton earned his first pole start at Sepang in 2012 and has been fastest in qualifying from 2014.
Hamilton became the first driver in the sport to secure 70 pole positions and was caught by surprise.
“We had such a difficult day yesterday (Friday practice), difficult to know where we stood.
“I did not sleep very well, just like all my engineers, we didn’t know whether we could fix the issue or not.
“Today we arrived and the car was much better, still it looked like the Ferraris were a bit ahead.
“The lap (pole) was very well put together, very nice lap. I don’t really know where it came from. I am also surprised by it.
“It’s a surprise to be up here and I’m very grateful,” said Hamilton, who felt sorry to see Vettel unable to get involved in the scrap for pole.
“I’m sorry for what happened to Sebastian because obviously he was very quick through practice but somehow we turned it round.”