Qualifying report
Formula 1 Malaysian GP
Malaysian GP: Hamilton blitzes pole as Rosberg toils
Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix, dominating all three qualifying sessions as his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg struggled to seal a spot on the front row.
Charles Bradley
Edited: Oct 1, 2016, 11:32 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Hamilton scored his eighth pole of 2016 – his third on the trot here and his fourth overall at Sepang – as teammate Rosberg simply couldn’t live with his raw pace.
Rosberg, who’s never started from pole in Malaysia, suffered a dreadful first run that was topped by both Red Bulls and a Ferrari.
Rosberg had to rely on his final run to join Hamilton on the front row but was almost half a second slower.
The Red Bulls locked out the second row, Max Verstappen just shading Daniel Ricciardo.
Story of the top-10 shootout
Rosberg’s first attempt in Q3 was disappointing, with a huge wobble in Turn 6 and a sideways exit from the final corner that limited him to fifth after the opening run.
In contrast, Hamilton produced a stunning 1m32.850s at his first attempt, 0.57s quicker than Verstappen, who was a tenth up on Ricciardo.
Rosberg had to rely on his second run, and produced a 1m33.264s despite another big moment at the final hairpin, which was 0.414s but two tenths clear of Verstappen. Hamilton aborted his second run after a huge lock-up at Turn 1.
Verstappen failed to improve on his second run, only managing a 1m33.604s. Ricciardo went faster on his final attempt, his 1m33.467s only 0.047s off Verstappen’s time.
Sebastian Vettel snatched fourth from Kimi Raikkonen in the battle of the Ferraris on his final run, but was 0.117s shy of beating a Red Bull.
Sergio Perez was best of the rest for Force India, over a tenth ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg.
McLaren’s Jenson Button only made one run in Q3 after his heroics to get through, but only managed the ninth-fastest time, beating the Williams of Felipe Massa for his 300th GP start.
Button stars to escape Q2
The battle to make it through Q2 was always going to be a tight one, as McLaren’s Button took the fight to the top teams and successfully made it through to the top-10 shootout.
Button’s last-gasp 1m34.431s put him eighth fastest, as Hulkenberg pushed out the Williams of Valtteri Bottas, while teammate Perez also improved but stayed 10th.
Bottas will start 11th, ahead of the Haas duo Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez.
Renault’s Kevin Magnussen was a strong 14th after his excellent Singapore GP – and this was also a great recovery from Friday’s pit fire.
Daniil Kvyat beat Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz for 15th.
Hamilton beat Rosberg in this session by 0.563s, despite a moment, with a 1m33.046s using the soft tyres with which he’ll start the grand prix.
Red Bull outpaced the Ferraris here, but with only two tenths between all four cars.
Magnussen escapes Q1; Saubers top Palmer
Renault’s Magnussen produced the great escape in this session, setting an impressive 13th-fastest time.
In the closing moments of Q1, Sauber’s Felipe Nasr outpaced Renault’s Jolyon Palmer by 0.050s, but then Marcus Ericsson came along and beat them both. Palmer was unable to improve on his final lap.
Ericsson will start 17th, ahead of Nasr and Palmer. Esteban Ocon outqualified Pascal Wehrlein for the first time in the battle of the Mercedes juniors at Manor, but Ocon is likely to face an investigation from stewards after Button had to overtake him at Turn 9 while the Frenchman was on an in-lap.
McLaren’s Fernando Alonso qualified in last place as expected, as he was always destined to start from the rear due to grid penalties.
His teammate Button spun on his first Q1 attempt at Turn 14 when he happened across Magnussen’s Renault on the exit of a right-hander. “There’s so much traffic; they’re not getting out of the way either,” he grumbled.
“The Manor has to get a penalty, I had to overtake him under braking on a slow lap,” he added.
Palmer had a big moment through the high-speed sweeper at Turn 6, just before Grosjean had a scare in his cockpit: “I just got my right mirror in my face,” he complained as his rear-view mirror came adrift. “The right mirror flew, so help me with traffic.”
Hamilton beat Rosberg by 0.016s to top this session.
ClaDriverChassisEngineTimeGap 1 
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 1'32.850 2 
Nico Rosberg Mercedes Mercedes 1'33.264 0.414 3 
Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG 1'33.420 0.570 4 
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG 1'33.467 0.617 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari 1'33.584 0.734 6 
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari 1'33.632 0.782 7 
Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1'34.319 1.469 8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes 1'34.489 1.639 9 Jenson Button McLaren Honda 1'34.518 1.668 10 
Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1'34.671 1.821 11 Valtteri Bottas Williams Mercedes 1'34.577 1.727 12 
Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1'35.001 2.151 13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas Ferrari 1'35.097 2.247 14 
Kevin Magnussen Renault Renault 1'35.277 2.427 15 
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Ferrari 1'35.369 2.519 16 
Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso Ferrari 1'35.374 2.524 17 
Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1'35.816 2.966 18 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari 1'35.949 3.099 19 Jolyon Palmer Renault Renault 1'35.999 3.149 20 Esteban Ocon Manor Mercedes 1'36.451 3.601 21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Mercedes 1'36.587 3.737 22 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1'37.155 4.305
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Drivers pushed for new double waved yellow flag ruling
Next article Malaysian GP: Top 10 quotes after qualifying
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Charles Bradley
Mika Hakkinen on his darkest day in F1
Formula 1
Formula 1 1 y
Mika Hakkinen on his darkest day in F1
Dillon: Spotter was “wrong” to shout “wreck him!” before Hamlin clash
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Aug 13, 2024
Dillon: Spotter was “wrong” to shout “wreck him!” before Hamlin clash
Hamlin: NASCAR stripping Dillon of win would be “warranted”
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Aug 12, 2024
Hamlin: NASCAR stripping Dillon of win would be “warranted”
Latest news
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 12 h
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 13 h
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
14 h
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
16 h
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe