McLaren Front Row In Malaysia

Lewis Hamilton (Courtesy Pirelli)

KUALA LUMPUR – RIS – Lewis Hamilton, driving for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes made it two pole positions in a role in his quest for the Formula 1 World Championship at the Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix Saturday. Jenson Button, his teammate and Australian Grand Prix winner will accompany him on the front row.

Button barely made it to the front row. His lap time of 1 minute 36.368 seconds was only 0.037 seconds ahead of seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher. Schumacher driving for the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team will make his best start after returning to competition in 2010.

Sebastian Vettel, winner of last year’s Malaysian Grand Prix, qualified sixth but will start fifth due to Kimi Raikkonen being moved back five spots from his fifth place qualifying effort due to a penalty for a gearbox change.

Schumacher was pleased with his qualifying result and put the leaders on notice that his team held back a little for qualifying and things would be different during the race.

 “Naturally, you would rather be further forward than I am.” Schumacher said. “But quite honestly, from where we have come, I think it’s quite an achievement to be third, so I have no regrets, just feeling good about it, particularly knowing that we have chosen a car that should work much better in the race. I would rather be compromised for qualifying; that’s a situation which I hope will pay back tomorrow.”