Webber secures fantastic fourth grid position

For the BMW WilliamsF1 team the final qualifying session fro the Malaysian Grand Prix would see a great result for Mark Webber, with the Australian finishing in an excellent fourth. Team-mate Nick Heidfeld was down in tenth after struggling on his qualifying lap.

The final qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand Prix would be run under very hot conditions with the temperature at 34 degrees Celsius and the track was at 44. Renault's Fernando Alonso was fastest in the first qualifying session closely followed by Toyota's Jarno Trulli. The drivers would set their times with their race fuel loads.

Minardi's Christijan Albers was the first driver out. He would complete his lap to finish with an aggregate time of 3m:23.001. Next up was his team-mate Patrick Friesacher. He would be a second up at the first sector, finishing his lap to be 1.815 seconds faster than Albers. His aggregate time would be 3m:21.186. Jordan's Tiago Monteiro was next. He would easily go fastest with an aggregate time of 3m:17.962, 3.2 seconds ahead of Friesacher.
Team-mate Narain Karthikeyan's lap would see him set a pace close to that of Monteiro.

He would finish his lap with an aggregate time of 3m:17.656, to go fastest. The final driver in the first group was Sauber's Jacque Villeneuve. He would complete his lap with an aggregate time of 3m:12.995 to be some 4.5 seconds faster than Karthikeyan. The next group was Davidson, Barrichello, Massa, Michael Schumacher, and Coulthard.

Davidson would start his lap and after running wide at Turn One would be 0.2 up on Villeneuve after sector one, a further 0.5 after sector two, and he would cross the line with an aggregate time of 3m:11.890 to go fastest. Villeneuve was 1.1 seconds behind the BAR. Now it was Barrichello's turn and his first two sectors would see him 0.6 up on Davidson. He would finish with an aggregate time of
3m:11.502, lap time of 1m:37.340, which would not see him move much up on the grid. Sauber's Felipe Massa was next and his lap would see him lose 0.3 seconds to Rubens in the second sector. He would finish in second position with an aggregate time of 3m:11.884.

Another Bridgestone runner, Michael Schumacher, was next out. He would be level with his team-mate after the first two sectors, but would lose one tenth in the final sector to move into second with an aggregate time of 3m:11.633. Minardi's Christijan Albers was now over 11 seconds slower than the quickest times. Coulthard was quickly on the pace and was a half a second faster than Barrichello in the first sector. He would continue this through the rest of the lap to go fastest with an aggregate time of 3m:09.700, lap time of 1m:35.891. This would see David 1.8 seconds ahead of Rubens.

The next group was Klein, Button, Heidfeld, Montoya, and Webber. Klein would start his lap and would match team-mate Coulthard in the first sector, lose a tenth in the second, and cross the line in first position. His aggregate time was an 3m:09.589, with a lap time of 1m:35.865. Next was Jenson Button. He would complete his lap with a time of 1m:36.216 to finish in third with an aggregate time of 3m:09.892. BMW WilliamsF1's Nick Heidfeld was next out and he would go slower than Button with a lap time of 1m:36.453, an aggregate time of 3m:09.917. Nick would lose most of his time in the final sector.

McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya is the next to start his lap. After the first two sector she was 0.2 ahead of Klein, but a mistake in the final sector he would lose time to finish in fifth. Mark Webber is the next out and his lap would see him finish with a time of 1m:35.770 to go fastest. It was a great lap from the WilliamsF1 driver.

The final group would be lead out by Toyota's Ralf Schumacher. Ralf would be 0.2 down on Mark's time after sector one. The rest of his lap would see him struggle and would only cross the line with a time good enough for second. Ralf would finish with an aggregate time of 3m:09.007. Next was McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen and he would complete his lap finishing in third. He had lost time in the second sector. Now it was Fisichella's turn and the Renault driver would be 0.5 seconds up after sector one, extending this in sector two, and he would cross the finish line to take provisional pole with a time of 1m:32.035.

Next was Toyota's Jarno Trulli and he would start his lap been 0.4 seconds up after the first two sectors. Hw would finish his lap with a brilliant time of 1m:31.528, an aggregate time of 3m:07.925, to move into first position. Now it was down to Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard would start his lap and was a tenth ahead after sector one, maintaining that advantage in the second to cross the line with an aggregate time of 3m:07.672 to take pole position. Trulli in second was just 0.253 behind with Fisichella and Webber in third and fourth.