Massa on pole, Hamilton penalised
Eurosport - Sat, 22 Mar 23:41:00 2008
Felipe Massa took pole position at the Malaysian Grand Prix for the second year running and will form an all-Ferrari front-row with Kimi Raikkonen while McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were punished five places on the grid for hindering other drivers' out laps.
More StoriesRe-live the action and qualifying times
What the drivers said
Championship leader Hamilton will start in ninth and Kovalainen eighth after earlier occupying the second row at the Sepang circuit.
After completing their final hot lap they slowed down, leading to complaints from BMW's Nick Heidfeld and Renault's Fernando Alonso that they blocked the race line and cost them time.
Brazilian Massa, fifth in Malaysia last year, recorded a time of 1:35.748, nearly half-a-second ahead of Raikkonen (1:36.230) as the threatened rain in over 80 percent humidity held off until moments after the session.
Massa did not look comfortable in Q2, re-emerging - along with Hamilton - late on to set a precautionary final lap as he dropped down the timing list and used another set of valuable tyres.
However, he improved immeasurably in the Q3 shoot-out, completing a stunning turn around for the Scuderia after their Melbourne horror show.
Kovalainen and Hamilton followed close behind the Ferraris on the final straight as the seconds ticked away, but the Briton could not match the Finn's 1:36.613 with his 1:36.709.
Hamilton did not look at his best throughout the qualifying hour, consistently lapping outside the top times in each section and was forced into that desperate - and ultimately unnecessary - last lap on Q2.
He even locked up at one point early on when he could not find the grip he required to set a time to challenge the Italian outfit - and post-qualifying was summoned then sanctioned by race stewards with his team-mate.
Toyota's Jarno Trulli (1:36.711) produced a shock by snatching fifth place late in the session from BMW's Robert Kubica (1:36.727), whose hot lap was even faster than that of the pole-sitter in the first sector before losing time on the final part of the track.
German Heidfeld was good enough for a comfortable seventh initially after putting down a time of 1:36.753, but claimed he lost time behind Hamilton's coasting McLaren and is now fifth on the grid.
Mark Webber's (1:37.009) Red Bull was ahead of a struggling Alonso in the Renault and ultimately took sixth, with the Spaniard seventh.
Timo Glock completed an impressive day for Toyota by reaching the third qualifying phase but had to settle for 10th position.
Britons Jenson Button (Honda) and David Coulthard (Red Bull) just missed out on Q3, and will start at 11th and 12th on Sunday.
Scot Coulthard in particular will be pleased after safety concerns almost ruled him out of the race altogether due to a crash in practice.
German Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso failed to get going, as did Williams' Nico Rosberg. They secured only 15th and 16th positions respectively.
Vettel's team-mate Sebastien Bourdais was the only driver to go off into the gravel and ended 19th, while in the final 22nd spot was young Briton Anthony Davidson in the Super Aguri.
Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport
Eurosport - Sat, 22 Mar 23:41:00 2008
Felipe Massa took pole position at the Malaysian Grand Prix for the second year running and will form an all-Ferrari front-row with Kimi Raikkonen while McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were punished five places on the grid for hindering other drivers' out laps.
More StoriesRe-live the action and qualifying times
What the drivers said
Championship leader Hamilton will start in ninth and Kovalainen eighth after earlier occupying the second row at the Sepang circuit.
After completing their final hot lap they slowed down, leading to complaints from BMW's Nick Heidfeld and Renault's Fernando Alonso that they blocked the race line and cost them time.
Brazilian Massa, fifth in Malaysia last year, recorded a time of 1:35.748, nearly half-a-second ahead of Raikkonen (1:36.230) as the threatened rain in over 80 percent humidity held off until moments after the session.
Massa did not look comfortable in Q2, re-emerging - along with Hamilton - late on to set a precautionary final lap as he dropped down the timing list and used another set of valuable tyres.
However, he improved immeasurably in the Q3 shoot-out, completing a stunning turn around for the Scuderia after their Melbourne horror show.
Kovalainen and Hamilton followed close behind the Ferraris on the final straight as the seconds ticked away, but the Briton could not match the Finn's 1:36.613 with his 1:36.709.
Hamilton did not look at his best throughout the qualifying hour, consistently lapping outside the top times in each section and was forced into that desperate - and ultimately unnecessary - last lap on Q2.
He even locked up at one point early on when he could not find the grip he required to set a time to challenge the Italian outfit - and post-qualifying was summoned then sanctioned by race stewards with his team-mate.
Toyota's Jarno Trulli (1:36.711) produced a shock by snatching fifth place late in the session from BMW's Robert Kubica (1:36.727), whose hot lap was even faster than that of the pole-sitter in the first sector before losing time on the final part of the track.
German Heidfeld was good enough for a comfortable seventh initially after putting down a time of 1:36.753, but claimed he lost time behind Hamilton's coasting McLaren and is now fifth on the grid.
Mark Webber's (1:37.009) Red Bull was ahead of a struggling Alonso in the Renault and ultimately took sixth, with the Spaniard seventh.
Timo Glock completed an impressive day for Toyota by reaching the third qualifying phase but had to settle for 10th position.
Britons Jenson Button (Honda) and David Coulthard (Red Bull) just missed out on Q3, and will start at 11th and 12th on Sunday.
Scot Coulthard in particular will be pleased after safety concerns almost ruled him out of the race altogether due to a crash in practice.
German Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso failed to get going, as did Williams' Nico Rosberg. They secured only 15th and 16th positions respectively.
Vettel's team-mate Sebastien Bourdais was the only driver to go off into the gravel and ended 19th, while in the final 22nd spot was young Briton Anthony Davidson in the Super Aguri.
Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport