Hamilton resisted Vettel challenge to take Sepang pole

Sepang 2015 F1 qualifiers

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton edged out Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari to pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix by less than a tenth of a second in a rain-affected qualifying.

Hamilton’s first flying lap on intermediate tyres in Q3 proved enough to secure P1, as Vettel split the reigning Formula 1 world champion from his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg with second.

The Silver Arrows drivers appeared to get in each other’s way in the crucial closing stages of Q3, and Hamilton failed to improve on his final run while Rosberg’s final lap was only good enough for third.

The Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat will line-up fourth and fifth, just ahead of the Toro Rosso of super rookie Max Verstappen, who rounded out the top six.

The drivers who began the delayed Q3 session on full wet tyres and had to switch to intermediates filled the remaining spots in the top ten.

Romain Grosjean’s Lotus split the Williams pair of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, who could only manage seventh and ninth fastest times respectively, while Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber rounded out the Q3 times.

A thunderstorm in the early stages of Q2 effectively reduced the second segment of qualifying to a single-lap shootout, and delayed the final session by 30 minutes.

The big casualty of the scramble for track position to get one dry lap in before the rain came was Kimi Raikkonen.

The 2007 world champion was delayed at the final corner trying to pass Ericsson’s Sauber – the last car to make the cut in tenth –  and by being passed by Hamilton’s Mercedes at Turn 1, and wound up only P11.

Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus, the Force Indias of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez – who both ran on used medium tyres – and the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz Jr – who impressively matched Vettel in setting the fourth quickest time in Q1 – were also eliminated.

Australian Grand Prix star Felipe Nasr had a troubled Q1, having struggled to get comfortable with his Sauber’s handling since taking his car back from Ferrari junior driver Raffaele Marciello after the first practice session.

The Brazilian qualified almost three tenths adrift of Perez and that same time margin ahead of Jenson Button’s McLaren-Honda.

Yet again, this was a difficult qualifying session for McLaren. With both cars knocked out in Q1. Making his Formula 1 return is Fernando Alonso but this was a shock to the double world champion to only be down in P18.

Manor GP has at least completed some track running this weekend, but failed to qualify within the 107 per cent cut-off in Q1.

Roberto Merhi set a time almost half a second too slow to make the cut-off. 7.4s shy of the outright pace compared to the leading Mercedes.

While a fuel system problem discovered in final practice confined his team-mate Will Stevens to the garage, so no lap time was set in qualifying.

Despite that, Stevens registered a lap quick enough to make the cut in the second free practice session.

Previously the stewards have allowed cars to start the race in such circumstances, even if they haven’t posted a time in qualifying.

The wet weather tried to spice up the establishing order of Formula 1 and yet the same result reveals Mercedes still the quickest car. Ferrari are a close competitor and it’s encouraging to see Vettel splitting the Silver Arrows.

As for Max Verstappen, this talented 17-year-old is doing a solid job for Toro Rosso. Hopefully his car can get to the end and score his first championship points.

Hamilton Sepang 2015

Qualifying times from Sepang:

1    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1m49.834s
2    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    1m49.908s
3    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    1m50.299s
4    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    1m51.541s
5    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault    1m51.950s
6    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m51.980s
7    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    1m52.473s
8    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    1m52.980s
9    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    1m53.179s
10    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1m53.260s
11    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    1m42.173s
12    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    1m42.197s
13    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    1m43.022s
14    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    1m43.468s
15    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m43.700s
16    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1m41.308s
17    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    1m41.635s
18    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    1m41.745s
19    Roberto Merhi    Manor-Ferrari    1m46.677s
20    Will Stevens    Manor-Ferrari

4 thoughts to “Hamilton resisted Vettel challenge to take Sepang pole”

  1. After missing out on the season-opening Australian Grand Prix due to his heavy crash in testing. Double world champion made his Formula 1 return at Sepang but this was a difficult qualifying session. Fernando Alonso says McLaren won’t be missing out of Q2 for long. Autosport.com has the story.

    Fernando Alonso has faith that McLaren will not be qualifying at the back of the grid for much longer, despite more frustration at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

    The Spaniard and team-mate Jenson Button were knocked out in Q1 – and were only saved from being slowest by the presence of Manor.

    But although the result is not any better than Australia, the team is encouraged by the improvement in pace that has allowed it to get within striking range of the cars in front.

    “Obviously after Australia we knew more or less where we are and actually we are much better than what we thought before coming here in Malaysia,” said Alonso. “But it is the way it is.

    “We are underperforming a lot and we need to improve, but definitely the steps we are making in the car show a lot of progress. So I am optimistic that I will not be speaking here after Q1 for long.”

    Alonso says the fact that McLaren was closer to the ultimate pace was hugely satisfying.

    “It was a long way off the pace in Australia, around 4.5 seconds, and here was 2.5/3 seconds. The step forward is massive. We are moving in the right direction.”

    Button believes that as well as a faster car for qualifying, that McLaren can expect better race performance too.

    “There is a massive step forward in performance,” he said. “We haven’t been able to challenge the other cars in qualifying but it is a lot closer than Australia and I think the race pace is better than our qualifying pace.

    “It is an improvement so we should be happy with the step, but we know there is a long way to go still.”

  2. Max Verstappen made quite a splash on his Formula One debut in Australia and the 17-year-old showed off his wet-weather skills in Malaysia on Saturday as he steered his Toro Rosso to sixth on the starting grid.

    The youngest driver to start a Formula One race showed all the maturity of a veteran to overcome a tropical downpour and find the right lines in the final session to secure the best starting position by a teenager since 1961.

    “I studied the lines from last year so that helped me already a bit,” the Dutch youngster said after matching his father and former F1 racer Jos’s career best qualifying position.

    “I think the most important thing is to just stay cool and do your lap,” he told Sky television. “It was a good start for me as I always enjoy driving in the rain. All in all, I can be really happy about getting P6.”

    Verstappen explained that the conditions were similar to those he had experienced early on in his racing career.

    “It’s kind of go-kart lines. In the braking, you go a bit off line and then you cut across. I did exactly the same. I only had three laps so didn’t have a lot of time to see where I had to go. It paid off,” he added.

    Father Jos, who had two podium finishes in a Formula One career spanning eight years and achieved his best grid position of sixth with Benetton at the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix, was not surprised by his son’s achievement.

    “I am very proud of that (matching his best qualifying position). He has to do a lot better than I did in my career,” he said.

    “I try to help him everywhere possible. I speak to him a little bit before he goes out. I’m just here to think for him as well because of his little experience. But he has to do it himself.

    “He did an incredible job and I’m happy with what he’s doing. But there are still a lot of things to learn.”

    Verstappen remains in course to become Formula One’s youngest ever points scorer on Sunday after the disappointment of missing out on his debut in Melbourne two weeks ago.

    He was sitting in ninth place there when an engine failure ended his race.

    The highest grid placing by a teenager in Formula One was a front row start for 19-year-old Mexican Ricardo Rodriguez on his debut with Ferrari at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix.

    Source: Reuters

  3. Despite missing out on the 107 per cent mark in qualifying, the sport’s governing body have decided to allow Manor’s Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens to race on Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix. Autosport.com has the details.

    Manor Formula 1 duo Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi will be allowed to race in the Malaysian Grand Prix despite failing to set fast enough times in qualifying.

    Stevens was unable to run at all because of a fuel system problem, while Merhi’s best lap was 0.4 seconds adrift of the 107 per cent of the fastest Q1 time that is required.

    However, with both drivers having produced laps at other times over the weekend that were within the 107 per cent limit, the stewards have allowed both of them into the race.

    An FIA statement confirmed the drivers would be allowed to compete because they had “set satisfactory times in practice at this event.”

    Merhi admitted that the weekend had been a difficult one, but said that it was to be expected considering the car had not run before the Sepang event.

    “In the three sessions Will has shown that the car is thereabouts on pace, while I had a spin in FP3 today so, along with yesterday, I have not been able to achieve the consistent running I wanted to for the team,” he said.

    “Coming into this, our first weekend on track, we were aware that we have a lot of hard work to do and that this is just the start.

    “So although we are disappointed for the qualifying result, we have to keep focus on what we have achieved to be here and to be able to begin our development.”

    Merhi will start from 19th on the grid, while Stevens will line up 20th.

  4. Lotus Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean has been given a two-place grid penalty after Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying.

    The 16 drivers who made it into Q2 all raced to the pitlane exit ahead of the session’s start in a hurry to get a clear lap in before it began to rain.

    Grosjean was adjudged to have jumped the queue and overtaken illegally in the pit exit on his way out.

    He went on to qualify eighth, so his penalty drops him to 10th on the grid.

    A stewards’ statement said the punishment was because “the driver did not leave the pitlane in the order of his arrival”.

    Heavy rain did arrive just after drivers finished their first Q2 flying laps, prompting a half-hour delay before the track was dry enough for Q3 to take place.

    Source: Autosport.com

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