Hamilton on pole in today’s Malaysian Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel remains optimistic he can fight back from the back of the grid to keep his Formula One drivers’ championship hopes alive in today’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

The four-time world champion goes into the 56-lap race, which begins at 11am UAE time, trailing Lewis Hamilton by 28 points in the standings.

With Hamilton starting on pole, things do not look so good for Vettel, who had been fastest in practice on Friday, but then had his Ferrari lose drive on his first fast lap in qualifying, meaning he failed to set a lap time.

But, Vettel, who is the most successful driver in history in Malaysia with four wins, told reporters: “Who knows what will happen tomorrow.

“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.”

Hamilton, who had looked off the pace in his Mercedes-GP throughout Friday’s practice, pulled it together when it mattered to take the 70th pole of his career with a lap of 1 minute, 30.076 seconds.

“Somehow we managed to turn it around and it is a real surprise to be up here with these guys,”Hamilton said.

Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen starts alongside him in second, with the Red Bull Racing cars of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo third and fourth.