Sepang, Malaysia: Sebastian Vettel took the pole position at a rain-hit Sepang Circuit with on Saturday. This was the Red Bull's triple world champion’s 38th pole of his Formula One career. After the disappointment of Melbourne a week ago, when he dominated qualifying in the season-opening race before finishing third behind Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus and Alonso, Vettel was careful with his tyres on Saturday.
Vettel stormed across the line in a time of 1min 49.674sec, pipping Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa (1:50.587) and Fernando Alonso (1:50.727) with Mercedes pilot Lewis Hamilton fourth.
Speaking about the practice session, Sebastian Vettel, said, “It was very difficult as the circuit was half dry and half wet today – so it was difficult to find the right compromise between pushing hard and also saving the tyres. It was the right strategy to come in and change the tyres and the pace was there. It was a good session in Q3 and it was clear what we had to do, so I’m pleased with the result. It’s a long race tomorrow and whoever wins will have done the best job. We managed to save some tyres today which will help if the race is dry, but we will see.”
Meanwhile, Mark Webber, who finished 5th, said, “It’s disappointing to finish fifth. We didn’t get the timing quite right in the last part of Q3, I thought I had more laps. We were quick enough, but we went too slow on the lap when we should have been going quick and it meant we didn’t get a last timed lap in. The time doesn’t represent how comfortable I felt in the car today and it’s frustrating when you put so much work in and know you could have done better. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow – it should be interesting with the weather.”
