Hamilton takes ‘surprise’ Sepang pole
SETBACK FOR VETTEL AFTER FAILURE TO SET QUALIFYING TIME PUSHES HIM LAST ON GRID
orld championship leader Lewis Hamilton will start from pole position for today’s Malaysian Grand Prix with title rival Sebastian Vettel at the back of the grid.
Hamilton had been off the pace all weekend in practice but his Mercedes team turned it around in qualifying yesterday to head Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
But Vettel’s world championship hopes suffered a huge blow when his Ferrari failed to set a time in the first qualifying session, meaning he will start last.
Vettel, 28 points behind Hamilton in the title race, lost drive on his first flying lap.
“It feels like I have no turbo,” he said over team radio.
Hamilton was clearly surprised to be on pole after a torrid weekend where he had failed to be quicker than fifth in any practice session.
“We had no idea what was going to happen today,” said Hamilton.
“I’m sorry for what happened to Sebastian but somehow we managed to turn it around and it is a real surprise to be up here with these guys.
“I’m very grateful to the team. The car felt good.”
With mechanics unable to fix Vettel’s Ferrari before the end of Q1 the German will start from the back of the grid unless there are penalties for other drivers.
Vettel’s engine had been changed before qualifying after a similar gremlin in final practice yesterday only for the new unit to fail.
“Who knows what will happen tomorrow,” Vettel said. “The race is tomorrow not today. We have a very quick car and we saved some tyres.
“If it happened tomorrow, it would be more of a problem. Anything can happen — you saw that in Singapore two weeks ago how everything can change.”
In Singapore, Vettel had started from pole only to crash on a rain-soaked first lap as Lewis Hamilton won from fifth on the grid to extend his championship lead.
It was Hamilton’s fourth straight podium in Malaysia, fifth overall and seemingly one of the toughest. He held a towel on his face for several moments and still seemed breathless before answering questions, his shoulders rising and falling slowly at one point as he took a long, deep breath.
“I didn’t sleep well last night,” the 32-year-old British driver said. “I don’t really know where that lap came from, to be honest.”
There were heads in hands in the Ferrari garage as Vettel came back in the first part of qualifying, having not even set a time. At least Raikkonen saved face, finishing just 0.045 seconds behind Hamilton’s time.
Raikkonen turns 38 later this month, but the 2007 Formula One champion has been showing admirable form recently. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Ferrari)
Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull) Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Red Bull)
Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Mercedes) Esteban Ocon (FRA/Force India)
Stoffel Vandoorne (BEL/McLaren) Nico H|lkenberg (GER/Renault)
Sergio Perez (MEX/Force India) Fernando Alonso (ESP/McLaren)
“It’s a bit more painful when you get that close,” the softly spoken Finnish driver said. “Tomorrow is a long race and it will be tough for tyres. I have a good feeling. It’s a tight first three corners so a lot usually happens.”
Verstappen celebrated his 20th birthday with a fine drive. He must make Raikkonen feel old, considering that Raikkonen raced against Verstappen’s father Felipe Massa (BRA/Williams) Jolyon Palmer (GBR/Renault)
Lance Stroll (CAN/Williams) Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Toro Rosso)
Pierre Gasly (FRA/Toro Rosso) Romain Grosjean (FRA/Haas)
Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas) Pascal Wehrlein (GER/Sauber)
Marcus Ericsson (SWE/Sauber) Sebastian Vettel (GER/Ferrari)