F1 Malaysian Grand Prix: Hamilton grabs 33rd pole ahead of Vettel in the wet

Lewis Hamilton won pole position in a wet qualifying session at the Malaysian Grand Prix. 29-year-old Hamilton will be looking to put his woes at the Australian Grand Prix behind him (he retired just 2 laps into the race following a busted cylinder) and get things rolling when it comes to the points table. This is Hamilton's 33rd career pole which equals Jim Clark's record for a British driver, a record unbeaten since 1968.

But his worries are not just the car. Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel is right behind him in No. 2 spot while team mate Rosberg lines up in 3rd place.

It was said during the FP3 session that the rain might come down but that didn't happen. However, when Q1 was about to get underway, the heavy downpour at the Sepang track put it 50 minutes behind schedule. The safety car took numerous trial runs of the circuit to see if the racing lines were dry enough for the intermediate tyres.

Q1 saw Marcus Ericsson (who has never driven a Formula one car in the wet) crash with just under a minute remaining which brought the first qualifying session to a halt. Q2 saw another rookie, Daniil Kvyat lunge ahead and catching Ferrari's Fernando Alonso unawares. Alonso suffered suspension issues but the Ferrari team was on its toes to rectify it and Alonso was back on track to put in a flying lap.

As the drama unfolded on the track, Mercedes patiently waited at the end of the pit lane at the start of every session, a strategy that brought them immense success.

Hamilton set the time for pole and as conditions worsened, Vettel couldn't outdo the Mercedes drivers time. The top ten drivers to start in tomorrow's race are as follows

1) Lewis Hamilton

2) Sebastian Vettel

3) Nico Rosberg

4) Fernando Alonso

5) Daniel Ricciardo

6) Kimi Raikkonen

7) Nico Hulkenberg

8) Kevin Magnussen

9) Jean-Eric Vergne

10) Jenson Button