A number of drivers have expressed dissatisfaction with the wet tyres that Pirelli have produced for this season. The new ones are meant to disperse more water but some of the drivers have found them twitchier. Many will be hoping the skies stay clear and they don't have to put them on.
For the moment their prayers sem to have been answered with the conditions dry.
For the start Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton is on pole, with Vettel second, Hamilton's team-mate Nico Rosberg, who won in Australia, third, and Ferrari's two-time world champion Fernando Alonso fourth after he was cleared of blame over a collision in qualifying.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, controversially stripped of second place for a fuel infringement in Australia, gets under way on the third row alongside Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.
McLaren will have to fight their way into the reckoning with Kevin Magnussen starting eighth and Jenson Button 10th after technical troubles marred their qualifying efforts.
Further back:
11: Kvyat. 12: Gutierrez. 13: Massa. 14: Perez. 15: Grosjean. 16: Maldonado. 17: Sutil. 18: Bottas. 19: Bianchi. 20: Kobayashi. 21: Chilton. 22: Ericsson.
Rain is likely to play a major role in the race.
Qualifying was delayed for nearly an hour and then suspended twice for crashes on the slippery track.
The sky is cloudy and weather bulletins are forecasting thunderstorms for the afternoon, although another deluge would be welcomed by defending world champion Sebastian Vettel as he bids to reel in front-runners Mercedes.
"We're here to win, we know that in rain everything is possible," Vettel said earlier.
WELCOME TO AFP'S LIVE REPORT on the Malaysian Grand Prix which we join as spectators pause to remember victims of the mysterious MH370 plane disappearance.
Organisers decided to hold a minute's silence before the race to mark a tragedy that has deeply affected national sentiment.
In their own tribute drivers are wearing helmet stickers reading "Pray for MH370" and the Malay-language "Doa Untuk MH370", and cars also carry messages of support after 239 people were presumed killed in the missing jet.
A number of drivers have expressed dissatisfaction with the wet tyres that Pirelli have produced for this season. The new ones are meant to disperse more water but some of the drivers have found them twitchier. Many will be hoping the skies stay clear and they don’t have to put them on.
For the moment their prayers sem to have been answered with the conditions dry.
For the start Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton is on pole, with Vettel second, Hamilton’s team-mate Nico Rosberg, who won in Australia, third, and Ferrari’s two-time world champion Fernando Alonso fourth after he was cleared of blame over a collision in qualifying.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, controversially stripped of second place for a fuel infringement in Australia, gets under way on the third row alongside Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
McLaren will have to fight their way into the reckoning with Kevin Magnussen starting eighth and Jenson Button 10th after technical troubles marred their qualifying efforts.
Further back:
11: Kvyat. 12: Gutierrez. 13: Massa. 14: Perez. 15: Grosjean. 16: Maldonado. 17: Sutil. 18: Bottas. 19: Bianchi. 20: Kobayashi. 21: Chilton. 22: Ericsson.
Rain is likely to play a major role in the race.
Qualifying was delayed for nearly an hour and then suspended twice for crashes on the slippery track.
The sky is cloudy and weather bulletins are forecasting thunderstorms for the afternoon, although another deluge would be welcomed by defending world champion Sebastian Vettel as he bids to reel in front-runners Mercedes.
“We’re here to win, we know that in rain everything is possible,” Vettel said earlier.
WELCOME TO AFP’S LIVE REPORT on the Malaysian Grand Prix which we join as spectators pause to remember victims of the mysterious MH370 plane disappearance.
Organisers decided to hold a minute’s silence before the race to mark a tragedy that has deeply affected national sentiment.
In their own tribute drivers are wearing helmet stickers reading “Pray for MH370” and the Malay-language “Doa Untuk MH370”, and cars also carry messages of support after 239 people were presumed killed in the missing jet.
