Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg believe Mercedes could have taken pole at Malaysia

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg believe Mercedes could have taken pole position for Sunday's Malaysian GP but for a late rain shower and an erroneous tyre strategy.

Nonetheless, neither driver was letting their collective Q3 disappointment cloud their expectations for a race which could produce further tricky wet/dry conditions. Having focused on improving their W04s race pace on Friday, Hamilton had suggested they had made a step forward in time for Sunday. "We were a little bit further back than we really were hoping for, but it's motor racing, everyone's in the same boat and tomorrow there's lots of positives to take out of today and yesterday so I'm excited about the race," the former World Champion declared. Indeed, after seeing Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen come through from row four to win at Albert Park last Sunday, Rosberg added: "I have a good car, especially also in the race, and as we saw in Melbourne seventh place won the race so it's still possible."