Posted on 28th March 2015
Lewis Hamilton claims second consecutive Pole of the season in a wet-weather qualifying session in Sepang
Laser cut Sepang by www.grahamandleigh.co.uk
In a rain affected qualifying session, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claims his second consecutive Pole Position of the season and also his 40th Pole Position of his career in Sepang ahead of Sebastian Vettel and his team mate Nico Rosberg.
With rain coming in the middle of Q2, we saw the final part of Q3 being delayed by 30 minutes. But after the delay, we saw Hamilton claiming Pole Position with a lap time of 1.49.834 ahead of Sebastian Vettel in second place who put in an astonishing performance to be 0.074 seconds behind him and spilt the two Mercedes drivers. Vettel finished ahead of Nico Rosberg who was 0.4 seconds behind his team mate.
The Red Bull drivers of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat gained from the wet qualifying session and finished in fourth and fifth places ahead of Max Verstappen in sixth place and Felipe Massa in seventh place. Lotus driver Romain Grosjean qualified in eighth place after locking up several times during the session ahead of Valtteri Bottas in ninth place and Marcus Ericsson who rounded off the top ten of the grid.
But it was Nico Rosberg that topped the timesheets with a 1.39.690 ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton who finished the session in second place 0.184 seconds behind but ahead of Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen in third place.
Sebastian Vettel finished in fourth place ahead of Felipe Massa in fifth place, Valtteri Bottas in sixth place and Daniel Ricciardo in seventh place. Carlos Sainz Jr ended the session in eighth place ahead of his team mate Max Verstappen in ninth place and Marcus Ericsson in tenth place.
Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Pastor Maldonado in twelfth place, ahead of the two Force India drivers of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez who ended the session in thirteenth and fourteenth places.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Carlos Sainz Jr qualified in fifteenth place ahead of Felipe Nasr in sixteenth place, Jenson Button in seventeenth place ahead of his team mate Fernando Alonso in eighteenth place and the two Manor F1 drivers of Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens who ended the session in nineteenth places and twentieth place.
However, Stevens did not set a time due to electrical problems with his car during Practice 3 and will have to see the stewards in order to get permission to race tomorrow afternoon.
The classification of Qualifying for the Malaysian GP is as follows:-
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.49.834
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 0.074s
3. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 0.465s
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 1.707s
5. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull-Renault, 2.117s
6. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 2.147s
7. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 2.639s
8. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes, 3.147s
9. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 3.345s
10. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.427s
11. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.42.173
12. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes, 1.42.198
13. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.43.023
14. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1.43.465
15. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.43.701
16. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.41.308
17. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1.41.646
18. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.41.746
19. Roberto Merhi, Manor-Marussia, 1.46.677
20. Will Stevens, Manor-Marussia, Did not set a time
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
