Hamilton beats Rosberg by 0.4s for Malaysia pole

Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix with an impressive qualifying performance to beat Nico Rosberg by 0.4s.

The two title contenders will start alongside each other on the front row after Rosberg recovered from a poor start to the final part of qualifying to take second, with a mistake at the final corner preventing him from challenging Hamilton. Max Verstappen took third on the grid ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, with the two Ferraris on row three.

Rosberg was immediately on the back foot at the start of Q3 as he ran wide at Turn 6 on his first lap and could only post the fifth fastest time, some 0.9s slower than Hamilton. With the two Red Bulls and Kimi Raikkonen ahead of him, Rosberg had to respond with his final attempt and duly did so with a lap that looked like threatening for pole. With Hamilton having made a mistake at the first corner on his second run, Rosberg was just 0.15s down through the second sector but ran wide at the tricky final corner and ended up over 0.4s off.

The gap was a sign of how impressive Hamilton’s opening lap was, with the triple world champion the only driver to dip below the 1m33s mark, and within 0.3s of the all-time lap record around Sepang.

Behind the Red Bulls - who were split by just 0.047s - Sebastian Vettel jumped Raikkonen as the Finn made an error on his final lap and had to abort his attempt. The two Force Indias will start form row four with Sergio Perez - whose future with the team was confirmed ahead of the session - just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, while Jenson Button and Felipe Massa round out the top ten.

After the first runs in Q2 the two Williams and Force India cars filled seventh to tenth place, but Valtteri Bottas locked up at the final corner and failed to improve his lap. That opened the door for Button who produced an impressive lap to go through in eighth place ahead of the two Force Indias, leaving Bottas to miss out by 0.039s.

The two Haas drivers dropped out in 12th and 13th with Romain Grosjean getting the better of Esteban Gutierrez by 0.096s despite complaining about the handling of his car for much of the weekend. Grosjean radioed the team after his lap to say: “I don’t know why it takes so long for us to get there, but good job”.

Kevin Magnussen bounced back from his fire in FP1 to impress in qualifying, securing 14th place on the grid, just 0.2s behind the two Haas drivers after a lock-up on his final attempt. Magnussen still outqualified the two Toro Rossos in Q2, with Daniil Kvyat edging out Carlos Sainz by just 0.005s.

The start of Q1 saw Button spin on the exit of Turn 14, with a Renault having been trying to get out of the McLaren’s way on the outside of the track. Button complained about traffic but recovered to get through, while his team-mate Fernando Alonso was first to drop out as he only completed five laps and stops early with a 45-place grid penalty hanging over him.

With Alonso slowest and already eliminated, the two Manor drivers were next to drop out, with Esteban Ocon out qualifying team-mate Pascal Wehrlein for the first time in 20th place. Ocon was half a second slower than Jolyon Palmer, who locked up at the final corner and failed to progress. It was a costly error for the Renault driver as team-mate Magnussen went through in 13th place.

The two Sauber drivers were the others to drop out in Q1, with Marcus Ericsson beating team-mate Felipe Nasr to 17th place by 0.133s.

GALLERY: Magnussen's fire at the Malaysian Grand Prix

Silbermann says ... Bugged by Liberty

Romain Grosjean exclusive column: Haas can build momentum for 2017

Chris Medland's 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix preview

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter