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Hamilton scorches to pole
SEPANG: Lewis Hamilton blitzed his rivals in qualifying Saturday to secure pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
SEPANG: Lewis Hamilton blitzed his rivals in qualifying Saturday to secure pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion clocked the fastest lap ever recorded at the 5.543km circuit in 1min 32.850sec. His amazing drive eclipsed the pole position lap record for Sepang set by Juan-Pablo Montoya way back in 2004.
But Hamilton still reckoned it wasn’t perfect despite being more than four-tenths faster than Mercedes rival and championship leader Nico Rosberg.
“I really enjoyed the lap. But it could have been faster,” said Hamilton, who has been quicker all week than Rosberg.
It is a welcome and timely return to form for the threetime world champion after his Mercedes teammate won the last three races to open up an eight-point title race lead.
“This is definitely the best the car has been here,” Hamilton told reporters.
Rosberg’s best lap was hampered by a slide at the remodelled final hairpin bend.
