Qualifying for the second Formula 1 race of the season was earlier today so come with me below the fold to see who starts where in tomorrow’s Grand Prix after the drivers had to power through typically torrential conditions in Kuala Lampur…

Hamilton makes it 2 Poles in a row at rain-soaked Sepang circuit, ties the late great Jim Clark for 4th most all-time

If Qualifying in Australia 2 weeks ago was damp and unpredictable it was nothing compared to the monsoon-like conditions faced by F1 drivers at a gloomy Sepang circuit in Malaysia. With the weather seemingly matching the somber mood of the nation after the tragic loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Qualifying was delayed for about an hour due to heavy rain and when it finally did start teams were confined to wet weather tires for the length of the three sessions. But despite the predictably difficult weather at the tropical track, the end result stayed the same for Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, as he claimed his second Pole of the season and tied 1960s F1 legend Jim Clark for 4th all-time on the career list. While never having an easy go of it, the Englishman laid down a time early in Q3 on full wet Pirelli rubber that no one else could quite better.

As in Australia, Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg placed 3rd and a Red Bull qualified 2nd. But this time it’s the 4-time and reigning champion Sebastian Vettel who finds himself on the front row for the Grand Prix, only missing out on Pole by .05 of a second. The German wunderkind can only hope that the gremlins that forced him to retire 2 weeks ago are a thing of the past. But then, the same could be said for Hamilton, who also had to call it quits prematurely in Oz, leaving Rosberg to happily claim victory Down Under, as well as 25 fat Drivers’ Championship points to Hamilton & Vettel’s goose eggs.

The Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen showed improvement after the fortnight’s layoff, with Alonso claiming 4th and Raikkonen getting through to Q3 and taking 6th. Vettel’s young teammate Daniel Ricciardo had another very good day taking 5th on the gird and certainly his fingers are crossed that the fuel flow sensor issue that cost him a place on the podium in his home country will not lead to such a rules-based disqualification again. The rumor is, though, that Team Red Bull are still not 100% confident that their FIA-madated sensor is in compliance so we’ll have to see how that plays out on Sunday along with all the other potential reliability issues inherent in their (and everyone else’s) new design.

Rounding out the top 10 qualifiers, Nico Hulkenberg again showed that he is genuinely fast in any chassis or conditions, bringing his Force India home 7th, a massive 7 places in front of teammate Sergio Perez. McLaren rookie Kevin Magnusson out-qualified his World Champion teammate Jenson Button for the second time grabbing 8th to Button’s 10th. To be fair to the English veteran, McLaren gambled on a split strategy in Q3 and ran Button on the green-banded inters while Magnusson used the blue-banded full wet tires and the track never did get sufficiently dry for the intermediates to outperform the full wets. Jean-Eric Vergne will start from 9th on the grid despite battling an evil handling, tail-happy Torro Rosso in the wetter sections of the track.

It’s a fairly good bet that there will be more rain to come on Sunday so it should make for an exciting race in which tire strategy (i.e. when to switch to inters of slicks from full wets) could potentially play a huge role and lead to an enjoyably chaotic race day. And if it’s not very rainy after all, the contenders will have to find a way to function well with a wet weather, high-downforce setup on a dry track. Either way, hopefully it will be an entertaining Grand Prix that will bring some small diversion to its grieving host country.

Top 10 Qualifiers for the Malaysian Grand Prix here:

Full starting grid here at Formula1.com.

The race will air live on NBCSports Network at 4AM Eastern here in the United States.