Lewis Hamilton put on a spectacular lap to secure his and McLaren’s second consecutive pole position during the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix. Teammate Jenson Button took 2nd, 0.149s behind.
Michael Schumacher kept his magnificent form to qualify in 3rd place, in front of Red Bull driver Mark Webber.
Lotus’ strong pace was quite evident, as Kimi Raikkonen took 5th – but has to drop five places in the race due to a gearbox change – and Romain Grosjean in 7th place; the Lotus pair were split by reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel who posted his fastest time on hard tyres.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg endured a difficult session and had to settle for 8th place, while Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso struggled in a slow car to take 9th ahead of Sergio Perez in the Sauber.
Tomorrow’s race will hopefully be exciting as the top teams will battle it out for a podium finish and most importantly, the win!
Tune in at 11:00 AM (Beirut Time)
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.219s 2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.368s + 0.149 3. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m36.391s + 0.172 4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m36.461s + 0.242 5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m36.461s + 0.242 6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m36.634s + 0.415 7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m36.658s + 0.439 8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m36.664s + 0.445 9. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m37.566s + 1.347 10. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m37.698s + 1.479 Q2 cut-off time: 1m37.477s 11. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m37.589s + 0.874 12. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m37.731s + 1.016 13. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m37.841s + 1.126 14. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m37.877s + 1.162 15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m37.883s + 1.168 16. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m37.890s + 1.175 17. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.069s + 1.354 Q1 cut-off time: 1m38.437s 18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m39.077s + 1.905 19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m39.306s + 2.134 20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m39.567s + 2.395 21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m40.903s + 3.731 22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m41.250s + 4.078 23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m42.914s + 5.742 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m43.655s + 6.483