Malaysia: A 'Comfortable' Quali Session

By Karl King
March 18 2006

Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen qualified in sixth and seventh for tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix. The duo will move up a grid position each however, as Michael Schumacher moves 10 places down the starting order with an engine change. Here's how it happened:

Knock Out 1

It was a McLaren 1-2 in the first knock out session in Malaysia, with McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya leading the fight.

RBR's David Coulthard was third with good friend Jenson Button just behind. Felipe Massa tried to get the best out of what doesn't look to be a good weekend for the Ferrari team. He went out to try and make some grid positions, after changing his Ferrari engine.

Nico Rosberg was safe in seventh while Rubens Barrichello continued to struggle in the Honda, coming eighth in the spare car.

It looked as if Michael Schumacher was ging to be knocked out of sixteenth by STR's Liuzzi, but in the dying moments the checkered flag came out and Liuzzi's lap counted for nothing.

The German was through meaning that the eliminated left two-by-two with Toro Rosso drivers Liuzzi and Speed out, MF1's Montiero and Albers out, and of course Sato and Ide out in their Super Aguri's.

Knock Out 2:

Jenson Button set what stands to be the fastest lap of the weekend thus far in the second session, followed by both Renault drivers who daringly came out in the final few moments to set their times.

Kimi Raikkonen set the fifth fastest time behind the Williams of Mark Webber, the Coasworth engine proving itself at Malaysia.

Christian Klien scraped ahead of Rosberg leading the rest of the safe drivers, Montoya and the Schumi brothers separated by just thousandths of a second.

The unlucky ones this time: Coulthard, a struggling Barrichello, Trulli, the BMW's of Villeneuve and Heidfeld, and Massa did not complete a time.

The Final:

It was Giancarlo Fisichella who took pole for tomorrow's GP, with a late lap which Jenson Button just could not beat at the end of the session.

Nico Rosberg did an excellent job qualifying third for Williams, ahead of Michael Schumacher who moves back with an engine change, and his experienced team mate Mark Webber.

McLaren duo Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen proved they had the pace in previous sessions but could only mangae sixth and seventh, perhaps indicating they are running heavier than the people in front.

Fernando Alonso was a lowly eigth followed by Klien, who opted to preserve his car by not pushing for a fast time. Ralf Schumacher was tenth, albeit not even going out in the pole shoot-out. His engine blew up at the end of the previous phase after setting a good lap time which saw him through to the end.

This doesn't play out too bad for Toyota driver Jarno Trulli however. Despite only qualifying 13th, the three cars immediately ahead of him, and Michael Schumacher will move back ten spots due to an engine change, promoting the Italian to 9th.