Hamilton takes pole, Ricciardo fifth in qualifying for Malaysian GP

MERCEDES driver Lewis Hamilton took Malaysian pole position as Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo set about putting his Melbourne disappointment behind him.

MERCEDES driver Lewis Hamilton took pole position as Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo set about putting his Melbourne disappointment behind him with a solid fifth in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix today.

Tropical rains delayed the start of qualifying for 50 minutes, but even the wet track at the Sepang International Circuit could not prevent Mercedes continuing the dominance it had shown all weekend as Hamilton made it back-to-back poles to start the new season.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel came close, but the four-time defending champion finished five hundredths of a second behind Hamilton and just in front of Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, who qualified third.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso recovered from a crash that broke his front suspension in the second session of qualifying and will start from fourth on the grid. His team-mate Kimi Raikkonen qualified sixth, behind Red Bull’s Ricciardo.

The Australian will go into tomorrow’s race eyeing off a podium place after crossing second in the season opener only to be disqualified because of a fuel-flow transgression issue. Red Bull are appealing against that decision.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen, Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne and McLaren’s Jenson Button rounded out the top 10 in Sepang.

Hamilton’s pole was the 33rd of his career, bringing him level with former world champion Jim Clark for the most by any British driver, and also level with Alain Prost.

It also puts him in an ideal position to make up for his early retirement from the season opener in Australia due to an engine misfire.

“I’m really happy with how well we’ve done over the weekend, but today was incredible - how heavy was the rain?’’ Hamilton said.

“It was tricky out there for everyone because at the end it was almost impossible to see. I couldn’t see where the track went, where the corners were, where to break. I had to bail out of my final fast lap, so it was very close.’’

Vettel’s performance was impressive given Mercedes had been expected to be far too quick in dry or wet conditions.

When he saw how narrowly he missed out on pole he quipped to Hamilton “you’re kidding’’ as they met in the pits, then jokingly tried to nudge Hamilton off the official weighing scales.

It was a good recovery by the Red Bull team after the car had a problem with its energy store electronics during the first session of qualifying, and left the German in bullish mood about being able to take on the Mercedes cars tomorrow, having also retired early in Australia.

“They are the most competitive package, it is difficult to beat them on the day, but not impossible,’’ Vettel said. “I’m keen to find out where we are and where I am. I haven’t done a race since Brazil last year.’’

The first session of qualifying ended when Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson went off the track, into a wall, through a brake marker and back onto the track where he was almost hit by Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez.

There was also a red flag in the second qualifying session, when Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat tried to pass Alonso on the inside of a corner but collided with the Ferrari, leaving debris on the track.

Vettel said his Red Bull team was “fired up’’ and ready to challenge Mercedes.

The German, who qualified 12th at the season-opener in Australia and lasted just a few laps of the race, admitted Mercedes looked superior in the early stages of the year.

But Vettel said he was looking forward to testing Hamilton and Rosberg at the Malaysian race, where rain could feature after a deluge delayed qualifying for nearly an hour.

“I’m very happy because we had a bad winter but the team’s fired up, the guys are pushing still flat-out,’’ Vettel said.

“I think we always have a chance to beat everybody, that’s why we’re here. Lewis isn’t digging around, equally Nico is doing a very good job so it’s difficult to beat them on the day but it’s not impossible.

“I think it would be quite sad to wake up in the morning thinking that you can only finish second or fifth or eighth. We’re here to win, we know that in rain everything is possible.’’

Red Bull struggled in pre-season with F1’s raft of technical changes, and the championship did not start well when Vettel retired in Australia and Ricciardo was stripped of second place for a fuel infringement.

But Vettel bounced back from an energy store problem early in today’s qualifying to split the Mercedes cars and finish just 0.055sec slower than Hamilton on a wet Sepang track.

And the normally affable 26-year-old showed he was in no mood to play when he berated Australian GP-winner Rosberg for a supposed obstruction in qualifying, a claim his fellow German denied.

Malaysian fans will well remember Vettel’s steely side after he ignored team orders and controversially overtook former stablemate Mark Webber in the final stages of last year’s race.

“Yesterday was good, today was very good so it should be a good race and I’m keen to find out where we are, where I stand,’’ Vettel said.

“Obviously I haven’t (finished) a race since the end of last year, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.’’

with AFP