Lewis Hamilton slithered to pole position ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel by 0.074s at the Malaysian Grand Prix, as rain played a big part in a tense qualifying session in Sepang.
Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg had to settle for third, 0.465s off Hamilton and 0.391s off Vettel, after failing to improve on either of his two final runs in Q3. The wet track in the final session opened up a slither of hope for Ferrari and Vettel nearly capitalised on it as the Mercedes got in each other's way on their second runs.
Hamilton was the first to make the most of fresh intermediate rubber in Q3 and his initial attempt on a new set of tyres was enough to stand as the pole position time by the end of the session. Rosberg's first attempt was not so good and his second lap was then hampered as a Williams exited the pits in front of him at Turn 1. That caused Rosberg to abandon his lap, but in doing so backed up in the way of Hamilton, who was on an even quicker lap behind him that he had to abort. It had the potential to cause tension in the Mercedes ranks, but in the end it made no difference to Hamilton as his first lap was quick enough for pole, although Rosberg then dropped to third behind Vettel, who improved late in the session.
Daniel Ricciardo managed to take fourth for Red Bull ahead of team-mate Daniil Kvyat and the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen, as three of the four Renault-powered cars took advantage of the conditions. Williams lost out in the conditions after initially going out on full wet tyres in Q3 before pitting twice again for intermediates, which were better suited to the track conditions. Felipe Massa was left seventh ahead of Romain Grosjean, who also went out on full wets initially, and Valtteri Bottas. Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top ten as he continued to show impressive pace in the Sauber this weekend.
There was only enough time for one slick tyre run in Q2 before the rain came, meaning getting a clean run was all about track position as the drivers left the pit lane. Vettel enjoyed a clear track at the front of the queue, but his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen did not and was knocked out after losing time in the final corner behind Ericsson's Sauber. Pastor Maldonado was also knocked out along with the two Force Indias of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez and the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz, which had looked capable of a better performance based on practice times.
Felipe Nasr dropped out in a dry Q1 in the second Sauber along with the two McLarens and two Manors. Jenson Button managed to beat McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso to 17th on the grid, but despite positive signs through the weekend the disadvantage of the detuned Honda power unit still left him 0.3s shy of Nasr's Sauber. Roberto Mehri was the only one of the two Manors to set a time, but it was 0.4s shy of 107% of the fastest time by Lewis Hamilton, meaning his participation will be left down to the discretion of the stewards. Will Stevens, meanwhile, failed to clock a lap due to a fuel pressure problem, but his FP2 time on Friday would have been quick enough to get within 107% and therefore he is likely to be allowed to race.