Lewis Hamilton "could have been faster" in qualifying

Lewis Hamilton was thrilled to get his championship challenge back on track by taking a remarkable pole position in Malaysia.

The Brit has been routinely outperformed by Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg since the summer break, but Hamilton hit back at Sepang by topping every part of qualifying.

It makes a difference from the last race at the track 18 months ago where Mercedes were beaten by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

"To come here, this year it’s the best the car has been here, and of course this year the tires are obviously better," he said. "Great work done coming into this weekend and over the past few weeks with Nico’s wins, but today the car felt fantastic. I really enjoyed the lap."

Despite the dominant nature of his dominant performance, Hamilton warned that he "could have been faster."

"Of course I’m very happy and grateful for my lap but you always want to finish the last lap. I think there’s more time there," Hamilton said. "I think tomorrow, provided the conditions are like this, the track is generally better. It’s a lot smoother and seems to work better with the tires than it has in recent years."

"It will be a close race for sure because I think they had very good long runs, but I think we were looking quite strong also."

MY Sepang International - 01 October 2016

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