F1 2017: Hamilton Bags Pole At Malaysia GP As Vettel Qualifies Last

Having struggled through the practice sessions on Friday, Mercedes managed to make a turnaround during qualifying laps for the Forrmula 1 Malaysian Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton starting on pole. The Briton secured his fourth consecutive pole and ninth of this season fending off competition from Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, with a lead of just 0.045 seconds. Following closely, Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Daniel Riccardo will start third and fourth respectively. Much to Sebastian Vettel's disappointment, the Ferrari driver suffered engine problems failing set a time and will start last in the race tomorrow.

(2017 Formula 1 Malaysia GP Top Qualifiers)

Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes W08 couldn't find the pace as his teammate after a number of changes to his car for the weekend. He did turn out to be the fifth fastest though and will start ahead of Esteban Ocon of Force India and McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne. Renault's Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh ahead of Force India's Sergio Perez, while the second McLaren driven by Fernando Alonso rounded up the top ten positions.

While Hamilton set the pace in Q3 with the fastest lap, it was Raikkonen who was consistently the fastest throughout Q2. The Verstappen was briefly the second fastest at Sepang during Q2, but couldn't keep up the pace during Q3.

(It wasn't a good day for Sebastian Vettel)

While it was expected to see Vettel at the starting of the grid tomorrow, especially after dominating the practice, the German had problems with his power unit's turbocharger and was seen limping back to the pits at the stat of qualifying. While the Ferrari crew did ready up the power unit for a last minute run, the situation didn't help. As a result, Vettel couldn't set time and will start at the back on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Williams F1's Felipe Massa finished just outside of top 10 at 11th, followed by Jolyon Palmer of Renault and Lance Stroll of Williams. Carlos Sainz of Torro Rosso qualified 14th ahead of his new teammate. Rookie Pierre Gasly of Torro Rosso showed impressive pace in Q1 but couldn't keep up in the other sessions, eventually qualifying 15th.

(The Red Bull drivers Verstappen and Ricciardo start 3rd and 4th respectively on Sunday)

Those who couldn't set a fast time included Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, followed by Pascal Wehrlein of Sauber and his teammate Marcus Ericsson.