Webber takes pole in rain-hit Malaysian Qualifying
Rosberg second. Alonso, Hamilton, Massa out in Q1
Red Bull’s Mark Webber has grabbed the pole position for Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix after a qualifying session interrupted by heavy rain. The Australian – the only driver on intermediates – clocked a best time of 1:49.327 in the final minutes of Q3, beating by 1.3 seconds Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg (1:50.673).
Webber’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel managed to secure the third place on the grid (1:50.789), ahead of Force India’s Adrian Sutil (1:50.914), Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg (1:51.001), Renault’s Robert Kubica (1:51.051), Williams’ Rubens Barrichello (1:51.511), Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher (1:51.717), Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi (1:51.767) and Force India’s Tonio Liuzzi (1:52.254).
Reigning World Champion Jenson Button made it in Q2 but was unable to compete in it after spinning at Turn 6 and ending up into the gravel during Q1. This left the Briton with the 17th spot on Sunday’s grid.
Things went worse for Fernando Alonso (19th), Lewis Hamilton (20th) and Felipe Massa (21st) as they were knocked out immediately in Q1. This, after a wrong strategy call in the first minutes of Q1: with rain falling on the Sepang circuit they expected conditions to improve before exiting the pits. But instead the rain intensified and when they took the track they were unable to set fast laps.
2010 Malaysian Grand Prix Qualifying Session results:
Pos. | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:51.886 | 1:48.210 | 1:49.327 | 18 |
2 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 1:52.560 | 1:47.417 | 1:50.673 | 22 |
3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:47.632 | 1:46.828 | 1:50.789 | 19 |
4 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:49.479 | 1:47.085 | 1:50.914 | 21 |
5 | 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1:49.664 | 1:47.346 | 1:51.001 | 22 |
6 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1:46.283 | 1:46.951 | 1:51.051 | 19 |
7 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:50.301 | 1:48.371 | 1:51.511 | 21 |
8 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 1:52.239 | 1:48.400 | 1:51.717 | 24 |
9 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 1:48.467 | 1:47.792 | 1:51.767 | 21 |
10 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:49.922 | 1:48.238 | 1:52.254 | 21 |
11 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:47.952 | 1:48.760 | 15 | |
12 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 1:47.153 | 1:48.771 | 14 | |
13 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:48.945 | 1:49.207 | 15 | |
14 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:48.655 | 1:49.464 | 16 | |
15 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:52.875 | 1:52.270 | 16 | |
16 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:52.398 | 1:52.520 | 13 | |
17 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:52.211 | No time | 3 | |
18 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:52.884 | 6 | ||
19 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:53.044 | 8 | ||
20 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:53.050 | 8 | ||
21 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:53.283 | 7 | ||
22 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 1:56.299 | 9 | ||
23 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1:57.269 | 9 | ||
24 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:59.977 | 4 |
Image © Bridgestone