Malaysian GP: Ferrari dominate in final practice as Kimi Raikkonen posts fastest time ahead of Vettel
Formula 1 | September 30, 2017 15:22 ISTIt was a reversal of Friday's second practice when Vettel was quickest ahead of Raikkonen.
It was a reversal of Friday's second practice when Vettel was quickest ahead of Raikkonen.
The Ferrari driver threw away a golden chance to regain the championship lead from Lewis Hamilton in Singapore after an unfortunate crash.
Raikkonen is fifth in the 2017 drivers' standings with 138 points, while Vettel is in the second spot with 235 points, 28 behind leader Hamilton.
Ferrari's Vettel had topped the drivers' standings, but the Mercedes' racer bounced back to clinch the top spot, 28 points ahead of the German driver with six races to go.
After blowing pole position by causing a crash at the Singapore GP two weeks ago, the Ferrari driver threw away a golden chance to regain the championship lead from Lewis Hamilton.
Although he believes that there are five to six years left in his career, the record of Schumacher is nowhere in his mind.
After winning the Hungarian Grand Prix in late July, Vettel led by 14 points, with both drivers on four wins heading into the summer break. But after crashing out on the first lap in Sunday's Singapore GP, the Ferrari driver trails Hamilton by 28.
Vettel's 49th career pole came on the track where he holds the record with four wins and six podiums overall, and his superiority showed in a lap record of 1 minute 39.491 seconds.
Bottas is lagging just 41 points behind leader Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari and 34 points behind his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel and teammate Kimi Raikkonen finished behind Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in both of Friday's opening practice sessions on the high-speed Monza circuit, which favours Mercedes' stronger power.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished behind Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in both of Friday's opening practice sessions on the high-speed Monza circuit, which favours Mercedes' stronger power.
Hamilton's fifth win this season was his 58th overall, having equalled Michael Schumacher's pole position record of 68 in the qualifying race.
Since joining Ferrari, Vettel has won seven races, three in 2015 and four this year while securing 28 podium finishes.
Hamilton and Vettel have traded wins this season, with four victories each and one angry exchange of words in a heated moment at the Azerbaijan GP.
Sebastian Vettel's fourth win of the season came from pole position, on a Hungaroring track where overtaking is notoriously difficult.
Although Hamilton has won four of 11 races this season so far, and Bottas has won two, Mercedes is experiencing more problems than before.
Kimi Raikkonen finishes in the second spot followed by Mercedes Valtteri Bottas in third and Lewis Hamilton in the fourth spot .
The four-time F1 champion clocked a best lap of 1 minute, 16.276 seconds, while Raikkonen was .168 behind in front of a large contingent of flag-waving Finnish fans.
Vettel leads the championship by just one point over Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who struggled with oversteering and could only manage the fifth-best time.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fourth, followed by Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas and Raikkonen's teammate Sebastian Vettel.
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