In what was a disaster for him in Melbourne, it was triumph today at Sepang. Ferrari's Felipe Massa took charge and claimed pole position for tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix. In a tense battle and action filled battle for the pole, the Brazilian's time, a 1:35.043, was enough to clear him of his rivals - namely Fernando Alonso for McLaren and his teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Both came second and third with times of 1:35.310 and 1:35.479. All three were well clear of the next positioned man, the second McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton. After going quickest in the final practice session, the Briton could only manage fourth quickest with a time of 1:36.045, about five tenths from the top three.
Fifth for BMW was Nick Heidfeld (1:36.543), with his teammate Robert Kubica (1:36.896) in seventh. The pair were split by Williams Nico Rosberg who qualified with a 1:36.829. The Toyota duo of Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher replicated their Melbourne positions by qualifying eighth and ninth again with similar times of 1:36.902 and 1:37.078. Rounding out the top ten was Mark Webber for Red Bull with a 1:37.345.
Segment two saw all drivers rush out to set a time in fear of the possibility of rain, including a solo performance by Williams driver Nico Rosberg. However, in the end, the drivers eliminated were Heikki Kovalainen (Renault), Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault), David Coulthard (Red Bull), Takuma Sato (Super Aguri), Jenson Button (Honda) and Vitantonio Liuzzi (Toro Rosso) in their respective positions. Heikki Kovalainen (11th) made a mistake on his final run so Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher (10th) could breathe a sigh of relief as Red Bull driver Mark Webber (9th) just got ahead of him in the final few minutes.
Segment one had standard runs with some disappointments. The round eliminated Scott Speed (Toro Rosso), Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri), Rubens Barrichello (Honda), Alex Wurz (Williams), Christijan Albers (Spyker) and Adrian Sutil (Spyker) respectively. Quite a shock from Wurz whose teammate in comparison qualified sixth. Also another disappointing performance from Barrichello who yet again has gotten eliminated in the first round.
Written: Sat, 07 Apr 2007 07:31:30
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- March 23, 2008UpdateF1 Live
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- March 22, 2008Malaysia sees Massa on pole
- March 22, 2008Practice 3: BMW on Top
- March 21, 2008Practice 1: Massa dominates
- March 20, 2008Wet weather for Malaysian GP
- January 24, 2008Malaysia eyes night race for 2009
- August 26, 2007Malaysia extends F1 contract
- June 28, 2007No green light for night Malaysia GP
- May 12, 2007Malaysia could be night race
- (April 07, 2007)View all headlines from this date
- (Grand Prix: Round 2: Day 2)View event information
- (Grand Prix: Round 2: Day 2)View photography from this event
