Formula One:Lewis Hamilton again spearheaded an all-McLaren front row on the day Michael Schumacher secured his best grid position for five and a half years at qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
After securing pole last week in Australia, Hamilton made it two in a row for the first time since September 2009. The 27-year-old English driver finished 0.149secs ahead of team-mate Jenson Button as they repeated their one-two from Melbourne’s Albert Park, Hamilton clocking a lap of one minute 36.219secs.
Lining up directly behind them, though, is seven-times champion Schumacher in third in his Mercedes as the 43-year-old rolled back the years. The last time the German was so high on the grid was during his final days of his first Formula One career with Ferrari when he qualified second in the Japanese Grand Prix in October 2006.
Mark Webber grabbed fourth in his Red Bull, again finishing ahead of team-mate and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel as the 24-year-old repeated his sixth place from Melbourne.
Vettel, however, will move up to fifth tomorrow as Kimi Raikkonen will drop five places to 10th after the gearbox in his Lotus was changed overnight.
After claiming the 21st pole of his career, and his first in Malaysia, Hamilton said: “We’ve had a good weekend so far. It’s been a tough day with the change in weather conditions and the temperatures climbing. But we made some changes to the car and we managed to do some good times.”
As for the race, and with Sepang boasting the second longest run down to turn one of the current F1 tracks, Hamilton was mindful of the fact he was beaten off the line last week by Button.
“I don’t know if I’m in the best place,” he added. “It’s a long haul down to turn one, but hopefully we’ll have a car in a much better position for the race tomorrow.”
Button is anticipating “an exciting start”, but is wary of Schumacher behind him who made up more places on the opening laps of races last season than any other driver.
Button said: “The Mercedes is renowned for its starts, especially Michael, so we are going to have to be careful.”
Although missing out on pole again to Hamilton, Button added: “Qualifying has been pretty good for me last two races, so I can’t complain too much. It’s a one-two, although obviously I would want it the other way around.”
Schumacher believes he achieved “the maximum available” and would not have got on to the front row after being knocked off in the dying stages.
Schumacher said: “We have managed to work the car well over the whole weekend so far.
“We’re third here, which shows it’s a very tight business, but we can be more than happy with what we’ve achieved.”