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| F1 Malaysia |
But the dominating Red Bull team were rattled by the speed of the McLaren pair of Hamilton and Jenson Button, who have narrowed the gap that existed in the opening race in Australia two weeks ago.
Hamilton led the field until near the end and then improved on his performance. But in a fitting climax to Q3 it was Vettel, who has won the last three races, who came out on top, followed by Hamilton, Mark Webber and Jenson Button.
"When it comes to qualifying you take your trousers down and you see what you've got," smiled Vettel. "We can be very happy but it will be a difficult race."
The Red Bull cars used the Kers system which they had spurned in Australia, but the success still surprised the team principal Christian Horner.
"In all honesty, no I didn't expect it [pole position after Hamilton's performance] he said. "It was an absolutely fantastic lap from Seb. The McLarens have been quick all weekend. Mark had a little Kers alarm that we're looking at, but I don't think it was anything significant."
Hamilton said: "We should be proud of what we did today. We have closed the gap on the Red Bulls but they still have the edge."
All the leading teams were using the soft tyre option at the end, which means they have to start with the same rubber on Sunday, which in turn means they will be pitting early. But even the soft rubber was not good enough for Ferrari, who had to be content with being the best of the rest on the day. Fernando Alonso was fifth, two places ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa.
A disconsolate Fernando Alonso said: "It was not easy. We found we were not competitive enough in morning practice, so it was again a conservative approach.
"It is a stressful situation. We did our job today, knowing we must improve. A second gap between pole position and us is too much. In the race I think it is much closer. I'm not so sure which conditions are better for us. The start will be interesting. If it's raining here, everything is a gamble."
But it was an even more disappointing day for another former champion. Michael Schumacher was pushed out of the top ten shoot out by his team-mate Nioco Rosberg. As in Australia, Schumacher was 11th.
Sources: http://www.guardian.co.uk
