F1 2017: Hamilton in 70th heaven while Vettel's championship bid takes another hit in Malaysian GP qualifying

Lewis Hamilton's 70th F1 career pole position came just 0.045 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen as the Mercedes driver looks set for a fruitful Malaysian Grand Prix, with Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari suffering technical issues that will force him to start Sunday's race from the back of the grid.

With a time of 1min30.076 seconds around the 15-turn, 5.543km Sepang International Circuit Hamilton looks set to increase his 28-point advantage over Vettel at the end of the race by at least seven more points unless the German is unable to catch and pass the Briton over the course of the planned 56-lap race. 

The final Malaysian Grand Prix also saw a spirited performance by the Red Bull-Renault pair of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo who qualified third and fourth, respectively, ahead of the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas who is looking increasingly out of any realistic chances to win the drivers' championship this year. 

Remarkably - on account of their mechanical issues and pace deficit this year - both of McLaren-Honda's drivers made it to the third and final segment of qualifying with Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso qualifying seventh and tenth, respectively. 

Esteban Ocon of Force India-Mercedes was sixth while his teammate Sergio Perez was ninth and Nico Hulkenberg of Renault F1 was eighth.