Sebastian Vettel may have been hoping for a slightly calmer weekend in Sepang than he had in Singapore, but that was not to be. The Ferrari driver found himself down on power in the first qualifying session, returning to the garage at a slow crawl. The team tried to patch up his power unit but found themselves unable to send him out again, meaning the German failed to qualify. He's been given permission to race by the FIA, but will be at the rear of the field.

His bad luck meant the way was clear for Lewis Hamilton to snatch an easy pole position. Kimi Räikkönen tried his best to keep tabs on the Mercedes but had to settle for second, with the two Red Bull drivers behind him. Bottas was down in fifth. Both McLarens made it into the top ten, whilst Gasly was out in Q2 alongside his teammate, just a tenth of a second down on Sainz in his first F1 qualifying session.

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