Webber takes pole in rain-hit Malaysian Qualifying 

Rosberg second. Alonso, Hamilton, Massa out in Q1

Written by David on April 03rd, 2010 at 12:11 pmLast Update: April 04th, 2010 at 12:21 pm

Mark WebberRed 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

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