Malaysian Grand Prix - Hamilton matches Clark record with Malaysian pole

Lewis Hamilton will start on pole in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang after coming out on top of rain-soaked session. Sebastian Vettel qualified second, just five hundredths behind, and Nico Rosberg third, making the top three a replica of the front of the grid in Australia two weeks ago. With rain intensifying in the final moments of Q3 it looked as if Rosberg, Vettel and Alonso would all have chances to go quicker - but Rosberg and Alonso both failed to improve their times. Vettel never even got a chance to improve, in the end: a terrible blunder of timing as he tried to wait for a clear track ahead meant that he crossed the start-finish line a few seconds too late, and missed the chance to squeeze in his final flying lap. Hamilton's pole was the 33rd of his career, equalling the British record that had been held by Jim Clark since 1964 - though Clark's poles were earned in just 73 races compared to Hamilton's 131. Fernando Alonso was third fastest with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo fifth, while Jenson Button finished 10th in Q3 after a gamble on using intermediate tyres backfired on him. Torrential rain left Sepang under several inches of water, delaying the start of the session for almost an hour. But once things got under way, Hamilton was the fastest man on the circuit almost from start to finish as he showed yet again that the Mercedes seems to be the .