Malaysian GP: Top 10 quotes after qualifying

Lewis Hamilton claimed his 70th career pole position, his fifth at the Sepang International Circuit and ninth of the 2017 season

Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 in parc ferme

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 in parc ferme

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari in the Press Conference

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing in the Press Conference

Esteban Ocon, Sahara Force India in parc ferme

Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 VJM10

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Time	Gap
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	1'30.076
"We had such a difficult day yesterday; it was difficult to know where we stood. I didn't sleep very well last night, just like all my engineers, because we didn't know whether we were going to fix the issue or not. But today we arrived and the car was much better. The Q3 laps, particularly the first one, were very well put together. To be honest, I didn't really know where it came from. So it's a bit of a surprise to be on pole, but I'm very grateful. It's always a special thing when you're able to extract a little bit more out of the car. That's what I've always enjoyed since my dad would say that my first go-kart was fifth hand. I don't really know what happened to Sebastian. It's very unfortunate for him, but of course we have to try to maximise on every opportunity that we get. We still have a very tough race ahead of us, so we will keep our heads down. Today, every time I left the garage or came back in I could see the crowd and all those flags opposite my garage - I'm incredibly grateful for that and get a lot of energy from it."
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	1'30.121	0.045
"Our car has been handling well all weekend. Today in qualifying we got close, but we would have needed a fractionally faster lap time. I think that the car had it, but you can always lose a little bit here and there. It’s disappointing not to be first, but tomorrow is going to be a long race for both cars and tires. I have the feeling that we have a good car and a very good chance for the race. If it’s going to be dry we are probably more confident, but our car has been good in both conditions and with all fuel loads. What happened to Seb is disappointing, very unfortunate for him and for the team. The guys did an excellent job to change all the parts getting the car back in one piece and ready to go, but then unfortunately he had to stop. Tomorrow is another day, he will have good speed and I’m sure that he can recover well.”
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	1'30.541	0.465
"Third in Qualifying is a pretty good birthday present today. The whole weekend I was not fully happy with the car and in the last practice session I didn't have the perfect balance, but in Qualifying we managed to pull it together and the car was pretty good. To be four or five tenths off pole position on this track and knowing they can turn up their engines in Qualifying means we are doing a good job. I think on the long runs we are a bit more competitive so I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow."
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	1'30.595	0.519
"I did all I could today and I think we both got the most out of the car. We're half a second from Lewis around here so I think we can be pretty happy with that. It gives us a chance in the race tomorrow even if it's dry. I would have loved to be in third today, but that half a tenth was actually Max's birthday gift from me and I wanted to start in fourth really, because that's where I started last year and I won. This is obviously all planned in my mind. I did a bit of a lift of the throttle just before the finish line, so yeah it's of course all calculated. I think Seb is probably going to do a rain dance tonight so I might join him, hold hands and light some candles. But honestly, some rain would be interesting for the race, so we can dance tonight, as long as we don't dance tomorrow. If he gets near me then, we haven't had a good enough race."
5	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	1'30.758	0.682
"It's been a difficult weekend for us and we've been quite far behind at times. Compared to yesterday we made a step forward; today was a lot better, but still not good enough for me. Lewis and I did end up with completely different cars in terms of aero package for the qualifying. It seemed to be working for him but not so much for me. Qualifying wasn't going too bad until the second session. But in qualy three, everyone else could improve quite a bit but I couldn't. We need to analyse everything, it is too early to say why I couldn't improve from Q2 to Q3. I'm feeling very disappointed after the qualifying, but tomorrow is a new day. It is going to be a challenge for us; so far, our long run performance has not been great this weekend. But we will try and give it everything we can. "
6	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	1'31.478	1.402
“I’m very happy with our performance today. The car has been working really well since the start of practice and it’s clear that all the hard work we have done since Singapore has paid off. I think we found further performance today and all the small changes we made to the car really helped make the difference. So it’s a great team effort and we are in good shape for tomorrow. My laps today were strong – probably some of my best of the season, but there is still room to improve. You never know what can happen in the race, but it’s a good chance to score some big points.”
7	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Honda	1'31.582	1.506
“We weren’t really expecting to be so high up the grid. We’d hoped to get into Q3, but fighting for seventh was a pleasant surprise. In fact, my whole qualifying session went really well. I didn’t make any mistakes and pulled every sector on every lap. To qualify seventh on a circuit like this is probably about as good as it gets for us, so I’m very happy with my performance. We generally tend to be better over a single lap than across a race stint, so I think tomorrow will be tougher for us, but at least we’re in a position to race. And nobody really has any race preparation runs under their belts [due to yesterday’s FP2 red flag], so hopefully we can go into the race a little bit more prepared than the others and benefit from that. Hopefully we can make a race of it tomorrow.”
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	1'31.607	1.531
“I’m quite happy with today’s session. It’s been a struggle for us all weekend, we didn’t have the right balance and didn’t have the speed. We weren’t sure we were going to get into Q3 so I’m quite pleased with the results. We’ll push for a little bit more tomorrow and look to get ahead of Mc Laren and Force India.”
9	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	1'31.658	1.582
“It wasn’t an easy qualifying session for me. I’ve been unwell this week and this is possibly the worst place to not feel 100%. I made a mistake in turn 11 during my final lap in Q3 and lost my rhythm. It was a small lock-up on what had been a very good lap until then, but it cost me enough time to be only ninth. It’s still a good result, all things considered, and it puts us in a good position for the race. It’s going to be a challenging Sunday because Malaysia is a very physical race – probably the hardest of the year. The start will be a key moment and I hope to gain a few places. It’s a race in which anything can happen and the weather is always unpredictable. Yesterday’s interruptions mean nobody really has a clear understanding of the long run pace, but I think we can come away with a strong result.”
10	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	1'31.704	1.628
“I’m satisfied with this result, and with how the weekend has gone in general, but it’s going to be tough to maintain our qualifying position tomorrow. We know that our race pace is not as strong as our qualifying pace, so we’ll probably struggle a little bit more if conditions remain dry. However, maybe some rain will affect the race – some mixed conditions would improve things for us. I think performance was there for us this weekend, and getting both cars in Q3 on this circuit is a very good sign. The new parts we brought here worked well yesterday but maybe didn’t work as well today, so we will have a close look to that. It’s a very close field: it’s going to be tough to maintain our position tomorrow, but we’ll do our best, as always.”