Hamilton scores his second pole of the season in a wet Sepang track

Originally scheduled to begin at 4:00pm local time, the qualifying session was delayed by up to 50 minutes, thanks to a heavy downpour that was not favourable for race conditions. Yet, once qualifying got underway, Lewis Hamilton emerged victorious after Q3 in his Mercedes-AMG W05 to secure his 33^rd pole position in a damp and drizzling Sepang circuit in Malaysia - with a timing of 1:59:431.

Hamilton's 33^rd pole of his career matches compatriot Jim Clark's record. He was just 0.055s ahead of quadruple champion, Sebastian Vettel, of Infiniti Red Bull Racing, and the second silver arrows at the hands of Nico Rosberg.

Defending champion Vettel took the second spot after a best timing of 1:59:486 - denying the Mercedes duo from securing a front row lockout.

Vettel's strong performance in qualifying was almost threathened when an energy store issue forced him to return to the pits during Q1.

Starting alongside the other Mercedes will be Fernando Alonso of Scuderia Ferrari, who at 2:00:175 is almost a second slower than the pole setter. Alonso nearly missed Q3 after he was involved in a collision with, Daniil Kvyat, of Torro Rosso at Turn 9. Alonso's wishbone was completely broken, but miraculously the Ferrari mechanics worked against the clock to get the car up and running again - just about two minutes after the start of Q3.

The third row will be filled by the second Red Bull and Ferrari with Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen at the wheel, respectively. Raikkonen's impressive dry-track performance during practice was not replicated in wet conditions. Nico Hulkenberg of Force India, Kevin Magnussen of McLaren, Jean Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso and Jenson Button in the other McLaren secured the rest of the positions, from seventh to 10^th, in that order, at the end of qualifying.

Both Williams' of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas did not qualify for Q3 and will eventually start from 13^th and 15^th respectively - while the Lotus duo of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado managed only a best of 16^th and 17^th in qualifying.

Despite starting a strong second tomorrow, Vettel believes, Mercedes' strong performance over the weekends will not sustain if the sky decides to be unkind once again during tomorrow's race.

"I think we always have a chance to beat everyone. In terms of package, Mercedes, has the most competitive package. It's difficult to beat them on the day but it isn't impossible. You don't come here to finish second, or fifth, or eighth, we come here to win. We know that in the rain anything is possible but didn't know how we would do in qualifying. They may be faster on a dry day but maybe performance is less important in the wet as it is in the dry. We will see what happens tomorrow, we all race at the same time and we know there is rain forecast," said the defending champion to the media.

1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas	1:59:431
2	Sebastian Vettel	Infiniti Red Bull Racing	1:59:486
3	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas	2:00:050
4	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari	2:00:175
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing	2:00:541
6	Kimi Raikkonen	Scuderia Ferrari	2:01:218
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Sahara Force India	2:01:712
8	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren Mercedes	2:02:213
9	Jean-Eric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	2:03:078
10	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes	2:04:053
11	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso	2:02:351
12	Esteben Gutierrez	Sauber	2:02:369
13	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini	2:02:460
14	Sergio Perez	Sahara Force India	2:02:511
15	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini	2:02:756
16	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	2:02:885
17	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	2:02:074
18	Adrian Sutil	Sauber	2:02:131
19	Jules Bianchi	Marussia	2:02:702
20	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham	2:03:595
21	Max Chilton	Marussia	2:04:388
22	Marcs Ericsson	Caterham	2:04:407