Today is Grand National day and it was very apt that today’s qualifying session was one of the tightest in recent years. After a thrilling battle between the Red Bulls and the Mclarens, Sebastian Vettel guided his Red Bull RB7 to his second pole in as many races. But only just. The general consensus prior to this weekend was that Red Bull would run away with the race but one should never write off Mclaren. For much of Q3, Lewis Hamilton held the coveted pole position but was denied by a spellbinding last lap from Vettel, and was pipped at the post by just 0.104 seconds.
Mark Webber and Jenson Button closely followed in third and fourth while Fernando Alonso’s difficult start to the season continued as he lined up fifth, almost a second down on Vettel. His team mate Felipe Massa was once again slower and will start seventh tomorrow as Renault driver Nick Heidfeld managed to split the Ferrari’s with a wonderful lap to take sixth. It was a superb performance from Heidfeld following his qualifying woes in Melbourne. Renault were dogged with reliability issues in yesterday’s practice, yet they were able to get both drivers into Q3 as Vitaly Petrov ended the session in eighth. Nico Rosberg and Kamui Kobayashi completed the top 10.
Michael Schumacher found himself in his now customary 11th position after qualifying. Schumacher has lined up on pole position in Sepang on five occasions so it was a particularly disappointing result for the seven times world champion. British driver Paul di Resta was knocked out in Q2 after ending the session 14th but more significantly he out-qualified his more established Force India teammate Adrian Sutil for the second race running. At the rear end of the grid, both Hispania’s managed to get within the 107% qualifying time so both will start the race tomorrow while Team Lotus were disappointed not to get both drivers into Q2 for the first time; Heikki Kovalainen was just four tenths down on 17th place Rubens Barrichello in Q1.
Unlike Australia, Red Bull are running KERS this weekend and it was really a no brainer. With so many high speed corners and two extremely long straights, they would be easy prey for the rapidly improving Mclarens. It is undeniable that without KERS, Vettel and Webber would have lined up third and fourth tomorrow. It is apparent that Red Bull may not have the advantage that so many believed and on a weekend when every furlong counts, a quick start out of the blocks tomorrow will be vital.
Malaysian GP grid positions
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1mins 34.870secs
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:34.974
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:35.179
4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:35.200
5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:35.802
6 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 1:36.124
7 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:36.251
8 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:36.324
9 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:36.809
10 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber 1:36.820
11 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:37.035
12 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:37.160
13 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:37.347
14 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:37.370
15 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 1:37.496
16 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber 1:37.528
17 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:37.593
18 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:38.276
19 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Team Lotus 1:38.645
20 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Team Lotus 1:38.791
21 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 1:40.648
22 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing 1:41.001
23 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Hispania 1:41.549
24 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Hispania 1:42.574
Josh.
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