FORMER world champion Lewis Hamilton avoided crashes and shrugged off a torrential downpour to claim a British record-equalling 33rd pole position at a thrilling Malaysian Grand Prix qualifier today.
In a session which had nearly an hourās rain delay, and was twice suspended for crashes on the slipperyĀ SepangĀ circuit, the Mercedes driver came out on top ahead of surging world title-holder Sebastian Vettel.
Hamiltonās teammate Nico Rosberg, who won the season-opener in Australia, will start tomorrowās race from third with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso fourth after surviving a collision with Daniil Kvyat.
Vettelās new Red Bull partner Daniel Ricciardo will start from fifth ahead of Ferrariās Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Hulkenberg, who impressively placed his Force India sixth.
Williams driver Valtteri Bottas was given a three-place grid penalty for obstructing Ricciardo in Q2, and will start from 18th. But Alonso and Kvyat both escaped sanction after an inquiry into their crash.
Hamilton was thankful to grab his second straight pole this year, and the 33rd of his career ā equalling Jim Clark’s British record ā with a lap time of 1min 59.431sec, 0.055 quicker than Vettel.
āToday was just incredible how much it rained before and then during the session, it was very, very tricky for everyone,ā the 2008 world champion said. āParticularly at the end, it was almost impossible to see. I tried to do my last lap but I couldnāt see a thing.ā
However, the more significant result could be Vettelās second place as the four-time world champion, who like Hamilton retired in Australia, showed signs of life after severe early-season problems.
āIām very happy because we had a bad winter but the teamās fired up, the guys are pushing still flat-out,ā Vettel said, adding: āI think we always have a chance to beat everybody, thatās why we’re here.ā
Several drivers carried helmet stickers reading āPray for MH370ā and the Malay-language version āDoa Untuk MH370ā in tribute to the 239 presumed killed in a missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet.
