Malaysia GP: Lewis Hamilton claims pole position!

40th career pole for World Champion Lewis Hamilton under mixed conditions. A brilliant Sebastian Vettel nearly snatched pole position and split the Mercedes to finish ahead of Nico Rosberg.

Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth for Red Bull Racing in a great effort, and youngster Max Verstappen finished P6, the best F1 qualifying result for a teenager in 54 years. Bravo Max!

Qualifying was threatened by thunder and lightning and during Q2 the sky finally broke out to be absolutely pouring. Under those conditions, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen got stuck in traffic and immediately knew he would be out of Q3 in a day where Ferrari was predicted to secure the second row of the grid.

McLaren were eliminated alongside Manor early in Q1, though both Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso were positive and commented on the big improvements and step forward the team had made since Australia.

Overall a very interesting and entertaining qualifying session, race day is tomorrow.

The top ten for the Qualifying classification:
1. Hamilton— 1:49.834
2. Vettel — +1:49.908
3. Rosberg — +1:50.299
4. Ricciardo — +1:51.541
5. Kvyat — +1:51.951
6. Verstappen — +1:51.981
7. Massa — +1:52.473
8. Grosjean — +1:52.981
9. Bottas — +1:53.179
10. Ericsson — +1:53.261