Lewis Hamilton secured a potentially crucial 70th career pole as his first time in Q3 proved just enough to beat Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver had been struggling for pace throughout practice but with the additional engine modes and his single-lap prowess, Hamilton produced an incredible 1:30.076s to smash the lap record and take his fourth successive pole at Sepang by less than half a tenth of a second.
The reason why the result is potentially crucial is because Sebastian Vettel will start Sunday’s race at the back of the grid as an engine problem from Practice 3 continued into the qualifying despite a rapid change of the Internal Combustion Engine between the two sessions.
The German would get out onto the track, but midway through his warm-up lap suffered a turbo issue which meant he had to return to the garage where he would remain.
Back at the front, Red Bull will fill the second row as Max Verstappen improved on his final lap to pip teammate Daniel Ricciardo into third and at the same time would wrap up the qualifying battle between the two drivers as he will start ahead for the 11th time this season on Sunday.
While Hamilton overcame Mercedes’ problems, Valtteri Bottas would not as the Finn was seven-tenths slower than the polesitter in fifth.
The absence of Vettel allowed an extra midfield car the chance to make it into Q3 and it would be McLaren who capitalised getting both drivers into the top 10. Stoffel Vandoorne would also enjoy rare success over teammate Fernando Alonso with the Belgian seventh and the Spaniard 10th albeit with just over one-tenth between them.
Esteban Ocon would be the lead midfield car in sixth for Force India with Sergio Perez only ninth and behind the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg in eighth, as the Enstone team made progress from final practice.
The big losers would be Williams as Felipe Massa was only 11th and Lance Stroll 13th, a disappointing result on the weekend they received the latest engine spec from Mercedes and still couldn’t make Q3.
Debutant Pierre Gasly was disappointed over the radio after his lap but was only a tenth-and-a-half slower than Carlos Sainz in his first qualifying session for Toro Rosso. The two junior Red Bull drivers will line-up 14th and 15th respectively.
Finally, the two Haas’ and two Sauber’s brought up the timesheet but will start ahead of Vettel who has it all to do from 20th place.
The recovery of the Ferrari driver in the race on Sunday will be one of the key stories to follow but, despite taking pole, his main rival Hamilton is far from guaranteed victory with Raikkonen and the Red Bulls likely to offer a stiff challenge.
Add the ever-present threat of rain and the final Malaysian Grand Prix is set to be quite the thrill ride.
