Encouraging Saturday qualifying for WilliamsF1

After a difficult lead up to the first qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand Prix the session itself would see Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld finish in sixth and eighth positions respectively. This was an encouraging position for the team be be in with the next qualifying session to be run Sunday morning.

The session would see Anthony Davidson first out on the track. He would set a time of 1m:34.966 after a tidy lap but was slower than his practice time. Next was Minardi driver Albers. He would be 3 seconds down at sector two, finishing his lap five seconds slower than Davidson. Next was BMW WilliamsF1 driver Nick Heidfeld who was starting so early as a result of his retirement in Australia. He would beat Davidson's time by 1.5 seconds. The team would tell him to conserve his fuel and tyres as he returned to his pit.

Michael Schumacher, who also retired in Australia, was next out and he would be slower than Heidfeld after sector two and was not able to pull that time back finishing over 0.5 seconds slower, with a time of 1m:34.072. Patrick Freisacher was next out and the Minardi would cross the line with a time of 1m:39.268 to beat his team-mate Albers.

The next group of drivers would be lead out by Jordan driver Tiago Monteiro. Sector one and he was already a second down, sector two and he was 2.5 seconds slower. He would finish with a time of 1m:37.856. Narain Karthikeyan was next out and he would finish his lap to be just ahead of his team-mate with a time of 1m:37.806.

Now it was the turn of Sauber's Jacque Villeneuve. He would match Nick's time in the first sector, but was 0.8 down after sector two. He would finish in fourth behind Davidson, with a time of 1m:34.997. The Toyota was Ralf Schumacher was next out and he would quickly get down to a very quick time. He would finish his lap with a time of 1m:33.106 to move in to first position. For BAR's Jenson Button he would have to suffer a ten place drop in his grid position because of an engine change earlier this day. He was just up on Ralf after sector one, but the erst of his lap would see him lose time to finish third with a time of 1m:33.616.

Mass would start the next group of five drivers and he would be a tenth up on Ralf's time after sector one. But he would lose time in the next sector to be 0.5 down on Ralf. he would cross the line with a time of 1m:34.151 to finish in fifth way ahead of team-mate Villeneuve. Next came one the practice pace setters Jarno Trulli. After sector one he was ahead of Ralf and would maintain that after sector two. He would finish fastest with a time of 1m:32.672. An impressive showing from the Toyota team.

Now it was Kimi Raikkonen who was out and his lap time of 1m:32.839 would see him split the Toyota's, moving into second place. The Red Bull of Christian Klein was next out and he would not show his impressive pace of practice, been 0.5 seconds off the pace after sector one. He was over a second down
after sector two, finishing with a time of 1m:33.724 to move into sixth. Montoya was next out and he would match the pace of team-mate Raikkonen in opening two sectors, finishing his lap in fourth with a time of 1m:33.333.

Mark Webber was the first driver out of the last group of five, courtesy of his fifth place finish in Australia. mark was in ninth after Saturday practice but had a difficult weekend with problems with his car. After sector one Mark would be up on Nick but 0.3 seconds off Trulli's time. Sector two would see looking like second place was a possibility but he would finish his lap with a time of 1m:33.204 to move into fourth. Coulthard was next and his lap would see him set a time of 1m:33.809 to finish behind his team-mate Klein. The final three drivers were Alonso, Barrichello, and Fisichella.

The Spaniard was out first and he would be fastest after sector one and two. He would complete his alp with a time of 1m:32.582 to move into the top spot ahead of Trulli. For Rubens his alp would see him struggle, just like team-mate Michael, and was half a second down after sector one, losing more time in sector two, to finish in a poor thirteenth position with time of 1m:34.162. Now it was Fisichella's turn and he would be slightly down on Alonso after sector one and two and would only manage third with a time of 1m:32.765.