Only hours remain until its lights out in Malaysia GP. The main question has been will Sebastian Vettel close the gap or will Lewis Hamilton increase his lead?
Well that question has already potentially been answered. Sebastian Vettel’s luck has most definitely run out as a power unit failure meant he did not set a time in qualifying. He will now start tomorrows F1 race from the back of the field. On the contrary Lewis Hamilton got it right when it counted and secured his 9th pole position of the season. It was even more impressive considering Lewis was clearly struggling during free practice.
As regards to the rest of Qualifying, Kimi Raikonnen was the best of the rest pushing Lewis all the way to start on the front row of the grid. The two Red Bulls had a pretty good session closing out the second row of the grid. Max Verstappen once again out qualified his teammate Daniel Ricciardo proving he is clearly the faster driver. But the question always remains will Max be able to steer clear of trouble and secure some decent points? Maybe even a podium finish?
Valteri Bottas secured 5th on the grid after showing some early pace in Qualifying. Its the rest of the top 10 though which interests me most. The ever impressive Esteban Ocon continued his good form with a 6th place qualifying run. Once again out gunning his team mate (bitter rival) Sergio Perez who qualified 9th. Also the McLaren cars both had a good session. Stoffel Vandoorne starting tomorrows race in 7th and team mate Fernando Alonso in 10th. Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg makes up the top 10 this weekend with a solid drive to earn him an 8th place start tomorrow.
As much as I absolutely positively wish it would not be so, I just cannot see anything stopping Lewis Hamilton winning tomorrows Malaysian GP. In saying that, this is F1 and we’ve seen it before, anything can happen. If expected, the race will be a wet one and in the wet absolutely anything can happen. Sebastian Vettel could even make his way up the field for a podium finish.
I would like to see a Red Bull race victory tomorrow morning, but I may be in la la land thinking so. What ever the case may be one thing I am pretty sure of is that it is going to be a super exciting race. One not to be missed.
Think that Mercedes race pace will see them through. I’m a Hamilton fan so I’m a bit torn on Vettel starting at the back. Would love to have seen the two fight it out on track, but then again I don’t like sore losers and for that reason happy in a way that Vettel looks as you’ve said to have run out. However he can now in effect make loads of changes to his car without incurring any penalties since he starts at the back of the grid. This in addition to Mercedes reliability issues at the start of the season (remember those gearbox penalties for Hamilton?) It sure is to be an exciting climax to the season regardless of the outcome tomorrow.
Great reply Grant. Thanks for your comments. It is an interesting race indeed… and it looks like finally Verstappen might get some luck.