Chaotic Qualifying in Sepang leads to an upturned grid

Chaos reigned in Sepang as the rain poured down during qualifying for this weekend’s Grand Prix. Red Bull’s Mark Webber put his Australian nightmare behind him to secure the second pole position of his Formula 1 career after an inspired decision to use intermediate tyres in qualifying three while the other runners utilised Bridgestone’s extreme wet weather tyre. Webber struggled through Friday’s running but came alive with the fastest time of practice on Saturday morning and will start ahead of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes’ Rosberg will start from the front row for the first time in his career and again outpaced teammate Michael Schumacher in qualifying as the seven times world champion struggled to deal with the conditions.

Vettel had set the fastest time in qualifying two but could not match the pace of his teammate Webber when it counted but both Red Bull drivers know that tomorrow’s race is crucial for their title challenge after the trials of the first two races. The top drivers in the World championship all failed to make it into qualifying two with Melbourne winner Button spinning out and starting 17^th leading the title chasers. Lewis Hamilton starts 19^th ahead of Alonso and Massa. Each of these drivers has only themselves to blame as they did not set a time when the track was at its driest in the first session. This left them to set their fastest times on extreme weather tyres and this decision will cost them the chance to fight for victory unless there is havoc during the race.

The main question marks for the race surround around which drivers qualified with an eye towards a dry race setup and were therefore at a disadvantage in qualifying. The time gap between Schumacher and Rosberg would lead one to believe that Schumacher has set his car up for the dry but with overtaking proving to be so difficult it is still tough to see this strategy paying off for the returning veteran. Force India had their strongest session of the year with both drivers qualifying inside the top ten in a similar feat to Williams and both teams will look to strike while the iron is hot and score points in the race while the Ferrari’s and McLaren’s have to battle through the backmarkers.

MALAYSIAN GP QUALIFYING

1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:51.886 1:48.210 1:49.327

2. Rosberg Mercedes 1:52.560 1:47.417 1:50.673

3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:47.632 1:46.828 1:50.789

4. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:49.479 1:47.085 1:50.914

5. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:49.664 1:47.346 1:51.001

6. Kubica Renault 1:46.283 1:46.951 1:51.051

7. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:50.301 1:48.371 1:51.511

8. Schumacher Mercedes 1:52.239 1:48.400 1:51.717

9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.467 1:47.792 1:51.767

10. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:49.922 1:48.238 1:52.254

11. Petrov Renault 1:47.952 1:48.760

12. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:47.153 1:48.771

13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.945 1:49.207

14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.655 1:49.464

15. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.875 1:52.270

16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:52.398 1:52.520

17. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:52.211

18. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.884

19. Alonso Ferrari 1:53.044

20. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:53.050

21. Massa Ferrari 1:53.283

22. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:56.299

23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:57.269

24. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:59.977