Hamilton seizes pole in rainy Sepang

Ferrari’s Vettel finishes second in Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying

SEPANG: Peerless Lewis Hamilton waited out a torrential downpour before snatching pole position at the Malaysian Grand Prix in a wet and wild qualifying session on Saturday.

The Mercedes driver and reigning world champion set a fastest time of one minute 49.834 seconds, ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, after rain halted qualifying for 35 minutes.

The commanding drive from Hamilton, hit by mechanical problems this week, will fuel his charge towards a second race win after he dominated the season-opener in Australia.

Vettel was the day's other big winner and he whooped and hollered to his team as he seized second place from Mercedes' Nico Rosberg in the dying seconds.

Rosberg was relegated to third on the grid, ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat, with 17-year-old Max Verstappen starting from sixth in Sunday's race.

"It was a fantastic job for the team to have us both [Hamilton and Rosberg] up here again," said a delighted Hamilton.

Meanwhile, Vettel said Ferrari should be in "good shape" on Sunday as he eyes his chance to challenge dominant team Mercedes. "We know that they are difficult to beat ultimately; that's why everyone turns up to try to win and we'll see what we can do tomorrow," he said.

Rain has played spoiler in Malaysia before. In 2012, the race was halted for nearly an hour and in 2009, it lasted just 31 laps before being stopped and awarded to Button.

 

 

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