Malaysia Grand Prix – Qualifying Results: P7

| Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com | twitter |

Sebastian Vettel took pole position by nearly a second on a drying track in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix. With the circuit improving moment by moment in the final part of Q3, Vettel made great use of a fresh set of intermediates to lap in 1m49.674s for Red Bull.

Kimi Raikkonen has been given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Nico Rosberg in Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying.

The Australian GP winner had been seventh fastest in the rain-affected Sepang qualifying session.

But his Lotus will now start 10th after he was adjudged to have blocking Rosberg’s Mercedes at Turn 14.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time          Gap   
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m49.674s           
 2.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m50.587s  + 0.913s 
 3.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m50.727s  + 1.053s 
 4.  Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m51.699s  + 2.025s 
 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m52.244s  + 2.570s 
 6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m52.519s  + 2.845s 
 7.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m52.970s  + 3.296s 
 8.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m53.175s  + 3.501s 
 9.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m53.439s  + 3.765s 
10.  Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m54.136s  + 4.462s 
Q2 cut-off time: 1m37.342s                                   Gap **
11.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m37.636s  + 1.446s
12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.125s  + 1.935s
13.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m38.822s  + 2.632s
14.  Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m39.221s  + 3.031s
15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m44.509s  + 8.319s
16.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     no time
Q1 cut-off time: 1m37.931s                                   Gap *
17.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m38.157s  + 1.348s
18.  Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m38.207s  + 1.398s
19.  Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m38.434s  + 1.625s
20.  Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m39.314s  + 2.505s
21.  Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m39.672s  + 2.863s
22.  Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m39.932s  + 3.123s

Team Quotes:

Kimi Raikkonen – 7th: “We weren’t quick enough on the intermediates so I don’t think we could have found much more time in the wet today. For sure I wanted more but it is what it is and I hope we’ll do better on Sunday. It’s obviously disappointing to lose three places on the grid, but we’ll have to see what happens in the race. I have no idea what the weather will do, but it will be the same for everyone.”

Romain Grosjean – 11th: “The car felt better today for sure and we were looking good after free practice earlier this afternoon. We should have easily had both cars in the top ten, but unfortunately the skies opened at just the wrong time for me. My first run in Q2 was on scrubbed tyres and then as soon as we came in to fit the new ones it started raining, so for now they stay new. It’s a shame but there’s a long race ahead of us tomorrow and we now have extra sets of fresh dry tyres in our pocket so hopefully we can use them well.”