Lewis Hamilton has sealed pole position for tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix, finishing ahead of Sebastian Vettel in this morning's qualifying.

The Mercedes driver posted a time of 1:59.431, just over five tenths of a second quicker than the four-time world champion.

Hamilton's teammate, Australian Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg, will start from third, while Fernando Alonso completes the second row.

The start of qualifying was delayed by almost an hour due to heavy rain at the Sepang International Circuit, leaving the track too wet to drive on.

The damp conditions caused problems once the cars were on the track, as Marcus Ericsson slid off the track before colliding with a braking marker, leaving debris on the racing line in Q1, while the second session had to be stopped briefly after Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat collided with Alonso's Ferrari.

With rain continuing to fall throughout the session, drivers split their tyre tactics during the top 10 shootout, with Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button choosing to use intermediates instead of wets.

Hamilton was among the first to complete a lap in the final part of qualifying, and his rivals were unable to catch him as the rain began to increase.

The result sees Hamilton tie Jim Clark's record for most pole positions by a British Formula 1 driver.

Full standings

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
3. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
4. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
5. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
6. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
7. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)
8. Kevin Magnussen (McLaren)
9. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)
10. Jenson Button (McLaren)
11. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
12. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)
13. Felipe Massa (Williams)
14. Sergio Perez (Force India)
15. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
16. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
17. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus)
18. Adrian Sutil (Sauber)
19. Jules Bianchi (Marussia)
20. Kamui Koboyashi (Caterham)
21. Max Chilton (Marussia)
22. Marcus Ericsson (Caterham)