Hamilton puts the heat on with pole
MERCEDES boss Toto Wolff hailed Lewis Hamilton as being in “a league of his own” after the world champion delivered an emphatic response to rival Nico Rosberg by claiming pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Rosberg is eight points clear in the title race following a crushing display over an off-colour Hamilton in Singapore a fortnight ago.
But the Briton returned to his dominant best after he blew Rosberg away at the Sepang International Circuit to qualify nearly half-a-second quicker than his Mercedes team-mate.
“Lewis has been in a league of his own the whole weekend, so his gap to Nico was expected,” said Wolff yesterday.
Rosberg, winner of the last three races, has led virtually every lap since the summer break as he bids to prevent Hamilton from winning a hat-trick of consecutive titles.
And following his most recent display in Singapore, the momentum appeared to firmly be on his side of the garage. But Hamilton, who is only one win shy of his 50th in the sport, turned in a dominant display in the heat of Malaysia to seal what could be a crucial pole, and one the Briton will be desperate to convert into a much-needed victory.
Indeed Hamilton, who has endured a number of bad starts this season – most recently at the Italian Grand Prix last month when he gift-wrapped victory to Rosberg despite a similarly decisive performance in qualifying – has converted only three of his seven poles into wins.
“It definitely felt good out there and I never really felt under threat,” said an upbeat Hamilton. “I had that good buffer of time to the second guy.
“After having a difficult time in Singapore I learnt a lot from that weekend. I started off on a better foot here and I will hopefully carry it through to the race.
“It was a little bit similar to how it was in Monza. We had this kind of pace, but I plan to make tomorrow different. We have worked so bloody hard to get these starts right – the last race was really good – so it should be great for us.”
Rosberg, who made mistakes on both of his timed runs during the 12-minute shoot-out for pole, said: “I would have come close but unfortunately I made a mistake in that last corner. So, second place – I have got to live with that – but as we know from this year second does not mean victory isn’t possible. I am optimistic about tomorrow.”
Aside from the title race, McLaren’s motorhome has been transformed into a pub this weekend to celebrate Jenson Button becoming only the third driver in Formula One history to compete in 300 races.
And nobody will begrudge the Briton for cracking open a beer in the so-called ‘’Dog and Button’’ – complete with a dartboard, table football and pork scratchings – on Saturday night after he qualified an impressive ninth.
His McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso, however, will start at the very back after serving a 45-place grid penalty following a raft of updates to his Honda engine this weekend.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo will line up on the second row of the grid in third and fourth respectively, with the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen behind them. British rookie Jolyon Palmer will start a disappointing 19th.