Lewis Hamilton welcomes the threat from Ferrari in Malaysia

Lewis Hamilton has welcomed the threat from Ferrari in Malaysia despite nearly losing pole position to Sebastian Vettel in a turbulent qualifying session at Sepang.

Hamilton secured the 40th pole of his career by less than a tenth of a second ahead of his Ferrari rival as the Scuderia ended Mercedes' run of front-row lock-outs dating back to last summer’s Hungarian GP.

Hamilton had been over a second clear of both Vettel and Rosberg after their first flying laps of a rain-delayed Qualifying Three and was on course for an even faster second flying lap before apparently being blocked by his dawdling Mercedes team-mate.

But while Hamilton claimed in the post-session press conference that he hadn’t noticed the second Silver Arrows, the world champion is fully aware of the mounting threat from a rejuvenated Ferrari.

“I’m happy to see Ferrari are doing really well and to be so close. It is only the second race and it does show we do have a race with someone else,” Hamilton told Sky Sports News HQ.

"I didn’t get a better lap on my second lap so when I crossed the line l was just hoping that the first one was good enough. Ferrari are very, very quick in the race and they are getting quicker. The battle we had today was pretty cool."

Rosberg had previously claimed a front-row starting berth for each of the last 12 races and blamed himself for failing to usurp either Hamilton or Vettel in the final throes.

"I just didn't drive well enough and I'm annoyed by that. Third place isn't good for tomorrow but it is what it is,” Rosberg said.

"It will be a very interesting race strategy-wise. You had to be very creative today as a driver because you were going out in the complete unknown and you had to adapt quickly and the two guys just did a better job."

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Vettel, though, isn’t looking backwards and believes he can win Sunday’s race in the much-improved Ferrari which was particularly impressive on long runs during Friday’s practice sessions.

“It would be nice to give them [Mercedes] a hard time, I think it has been a little too chilled for them for the last couple of months so we will see what we can do,” said the former world champion.

Asked if he could claim his first victory for his new team, Vettel responded: “I think yes we can. It depends on a lot of things which I cannot tell you now. There is rain in the air and if it hits the track at the right moment it can be good for you, but it can also work against you. Our pace looks decent, but we have to be realistic, Mercedes have an advantage and that hasn’t just disappeared.”

Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen will start a lowly 11th after being caught out by the sudden downpour which fell at the start of the second segment of qualifying.