Vettel storms to Sepang pole !

Sebastian Vettel took pole for the Malaysian Grand Prix, at the end of a nail-biting qualifying session in Sepang.

Red Bull and McLaren were extremely closely matched and the reigning World Champion had to nail a perfect lap to pip Hamilton under the chequered flag. Webber and Button will line up on the second row of the grid.

The four of them were in a class of their own today and Fernando Alonso was never in a position to challenge them. The Ferrari driver qualified in fifth position, but was almost a second slower than Vettel. He’ll be joined on the third row by Renault’s Nick Heidfeld. Massa and Petrov will line up on the fourth row, while Rosberg and Kobayashi will share the fifth row.

Let’s have a look at how the session panned out :

Q1

Tonio Liuzzi immediately left the pits to get some laps in and to try and find enough speed to qualify for this race. He was quickly joined on track by most of the field.

Lewis Hamilton set the early pace but was shadowed by Sebastian Vettel. The session had to be interrupted shortly afterwards as Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso lost part of its left sidepod cover. The Swiss made it back to the pits while marshals recovered the pieces of bodywork lying in the middle of the track.

At that point, Hamilton was leading from Vettel, Alguersuari, Button and Webber. The Ferraris, Renaults, Saubers and Lotus, as well as Rosberg, were yet to set a time.

First on track, both Lotus set decent lap times and moved in the top ten. The Ferraris, meanwhile, went top of the order. Sauber’s Kobayashi slotted in third place and the Renaults appeared in the top five.

There were further improvements in the final minutes. Massa held on to top spot ahead of Hamilton, Alonso, Schumacher and Kobayashi. The Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber were 10th and 15th.

Williams’ rookie Pastor Maldonado was eliminated alongside the new teams’ drivers. All of them qualified within 107% of Massa’s time.

Q2

Buemi was first out of the pits and the first to post a time, but his mark was quickly bettered by Hamilton. Webber, Vettel and then Button went faster than the McLaren driver.

After the first run, Button was leading from Vettel, Webber, Massa and Alonso. The Briton and the Red Bull drivers didn’t bother to come out again, while Hamilton had to give it another go and set the second fastest time.

Rosberg moved up to P6 under the chequered flag… and pushed his teammate Michael Schumacher out of the top ten in the process. The German was eliminated alongside Buemi, Alguersuari, Di Resta, Barrichello, Perez and Sutil.

Q3

As the light went green, both McLarens left the pits, closely followed by both Red Bulls. All four cars had soft tyres on. Hamilton set the fastest time ahead of Vettel, Webber and Button. Less than four tenths of a second covered the four of them.

As they all came back in the pits to take on a fresh set of tyres, the six other drivers went out for their single run. They were soon all on track.

The battle for pole went all down the wire… and Sebastian Vettel nailed it, lapping one tenth of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton! Mark Webber qualified third ahead of Jenson Button. Alonso was fifth, but nearly a second down on Vettel. Heidfeld was sixth fastest.