Sebastian Vettel did it again today in another rain-affected qualifying session and grabbed his 38th pole position ahead of Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
Storms are always looming around the Sepang circuit, and come the remaining few minutes of round 2 of qualifying, the track was too wet, leaving Grosjean knocked out along with Di Resta and both Saubers.
The final shoot out for pole was a damp affair, but Vettel was as level-headed as he is pointy fingered, making a last minute pit stop to change for some fresh intermediate tyres, head out and grab the final flying lap of the session. Master stroke in terms of strategy.
With the top 10 qualifying on wet tyres, they have free-choice of which rubber to start on come Sunday and just as with Australia last week, the Malaysian GP looks to be a closely fought affair.
Raikkonen has suffered a blow to his victory hopes after stewards deemed that he blocked Nico Rosberg. The Finn has received a 3 place grid penalty, demoting him to 10th. Can he still fight at the front? Bring it on.
| POS | Driver | Team | Best | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull/Renault | 1'49.674 | - |
| 2 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1'50.587 | 0.913 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1'50.727 | 1.053 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1'51.699 | 2.025 |
| 5 | Mark Webber | Red Bull/Renault | 1'52.244 | 2.57 |
| 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1'52.519 | 2.845 |
| 7 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Mercedes | 1'53.175 | 3.501 |
| 8 | Adrian Sutil | Force India/Mercedes | 1'53.439 | 3.765 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | McLaren/Mercedes | 1'54.136 | 4.462 |
| 10 | Kimi Raikkonen* | Lotus/Renault | 1'52.970 | 3.296 |
| 11 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus/Renault | 1'37.636 | -12.038 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber/Ferrari | 1'38.125 | -11.549 |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1'38.822 | -10.852 |
| 14 | E.Gutierrez | Sauber/Ferrari | 1'39.221 | -10.453 |
| 15 | Paul Di Resta | Force India/Mercedes | 1'44.509 | -5.165 |
| 16 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams/Renault | - | - |
| 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1'38.157 | -11.517 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Renault | 1'38.207 | -11.467 |
| 19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia/Cosworth | 1'38.434 | -11.24 |
| 20 | Charles Pic | Caterham/Renault | 1'39.314 | -10.36 |
| 21 | Max Chilton | Marussia/Cosworth | 1'39.672 | -10.002 |
| 22 | G.van der Garde | Caterham/Renault | 1'39.932 | -9.742 |
*Raikkonen handed a 3-place grid penalty for blocking Nico Rosberg
