Malaysian GP qualifying:Jenson Button set a searing pace once again for Brawn GP as he secured pole position for the Formula One newcomers in tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix. The British driver clocked a time of one minute 35.181 seconds to secure the fifth pole position of his career and his second in as many weeks.
Jarno Trulli will line up alongside Button on the front row of the grid after finishing second with a lap of 1min 35.273sec in the closing seconds.
Timo Glock recorded only the fifth best time in final qualifying but will be third on the grid in his Toyota as a result of penalties handed out to Sebastian Vettel and Rubens Barrichello.
Lewis Hamilton’s miserable week continued with the world champion due to start 12th after failing to negotiate the second stint of qualifying.
But perhaps the biggest surprise was Felipe Massa, who will start near the rear of the field in 16th after failing to get his Ferrari through the first qualifying period.
Button claimed to be less than happy with his car after yesterday’s practice sessions but the 29-year-old was delighted with adjustments made to it overnight.
“Yesterday I was really struggling with the balance of the car. I had a lot of rear locking and instability, and when I have that it’s not my forte really because I find it difficult to drive it around,” he said
“So we changed it around overnight and it’s improved it a lot and I feel very comfortable in the car, so it makes it exciting for tomorrow.”
Button did little to impress during final practice this afternoon and the first stint of qualifying but gave a hint of what was to come by posting the fastest lap of 1:33.784 in the second stint.
He trailed behind team-mate Barrichello in the closing stages of Q3 but turned in another hot lap as the chequered flag came down to grab pole position once again. Trulli had a chance to overhaul Button but his closing lap was 0.092 seconds adrift of the Brawn driver.
Vettel turned in an excellent final lap of 1:35.518 for the third best time but the Red Bull will start 13th on the grid due to a penalty handed to the German for causing an accident involving Robert Kubica’s BMW Sauber in Australia last weekend.
Barrichello posted the fourth best time but will start ninth after changing his gear box yesterday. It meant Glock was promoted to third on the grid followed by the Williams of Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber’s Red Bull.
Kubica will start sixth with Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari in seventh and the Renault of Fernando Alonso in eighth.
Nick Heidfeld will line up alongside Barrichello on the fifth row in the second BMW Sauber after just missing out on the final qualifying stint.
Kazuki Nakajima recorded the 12th best time while the McLarens continued their early season struggles with Hamilton and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen in 13th and 14th respectively, followed by the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Bourdais.
But Massa’s failure was the biggest surprise as Ferrari appeared to make a major tactical error.
The Brazilian posted the third quickest time in the final practice session today but made only one flying lap in his Ferrari during Q1, a decision that he would rue as he was bumped out of the top 15 in the closing seconds.
Nelson Piquet’s Renault will start 17th, followed by the Force Indias of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil with rookie Sebastien Buemi at the rear of the field in his Toro Rosso.
Grid Positions:1 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1min 35.181secs, 2 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:35.273, 3 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:35.690, 4 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:35.750, 5 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:35.797, 6 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:36.106, 7 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:36.170, 8 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:35.651, 9 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:37.659, 10 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:34.769, 11 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 1:34.788, 12 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:34.905, 13 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:35.518, 14 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:34.924, 15 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:35.431, 16 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:35.642, 17 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Bra) Renault 1:35.708, 18 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India 1:35.908, 19 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:35.951, 20 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:36.107.