Wrong call in Q1 timing costs McLaren and Ferrari and leaves Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa starting from 17th, 19th, 20th and 21st
A good day in Sepang for Mark Webber, quickest in today's free practice and on pole for tomorrow's Grand Prix after an inspired call to run on imtermediates in Q3 put him ahead of his remaining rivals.
Nico Rosberg completes the front row ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Adrian Suitil.
Red BullMark Webber (1st, Q3 - 1m 49.327s)“It was tricky today. When you look at the amount of standing water there was in places during Q1 and Q2, trying to get everything right and a clear lap was difficult, especially as there is a fair difference in pace between some of the cars. My Q2 lap on intermediate tyres was a bit of a three point turn round Pedro (de la Rosa) and that was my quickest, so you knew you had to keep pushing; the conditions were changing so quickly. A few big names went out in the first session, which was a surprise, but it just goes to show how sensitive everything is to timing. The pole goes to Ciaron, my engineer, as he made the call for inters in Q3. I said ‘have a look at the track, what do you think?’ and he said ‘yeah let’s go for it’. It was tricky in places, in the last corner there was a bit of aquaplaning, but I kept it on the black stuff and got the job done.”
Sebastian Vettel (3rd, Q3 - 1m 50.789s)“Good job to Mark today. It was very tricky at the start of Q3, there was a lot of water and it was the right thing to call the red flag - it was just impossible. I think there was too much water - the cars are quite low, so you end up swimming more than driving. In Q3 I think we did the right thing putting on extremes. The water disappeared quicker than the majority of people thought and Mark was on the better tyre in the end, but I think third is a good result for the team. It was a tricky session – it was important to get into the next round and then qualify as high up as we could, which we did. It’s a shame as I had some moments on my fastest lap - I was close to Nico (Rosberg), only about one tenth off I think, but if you look back there wasn’t that much margin. I think we can be very pleased with third today and everything is possible tomorrow.”
Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal“A very tricky qualifying, as there was a lot of opportunity to get it wrong rather than right, but both drivers kept cool heads, along with their engineers and car crews. In the end there was quite a lot of risk associated with splitting the strategy for the last run in Q3, but it was the right thing to do. The option of the intermediate tyre had a one lap window that Mark fully exploited and first and third is a great job from both drivers.”Q31 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:49.327 2 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:50.673 3 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:50.789 4 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:50.914 5 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:51.001 6 11 Robert Kubica Renault 1:51.051 7 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:51.511 8 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:51.717 9 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:51.767 10 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:52.254
Q211 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:48.760 12 22 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.771 13 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:49.207 14 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 1:49.464 15 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.270 16 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:52.398 1:52.520
Q317 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:52.211 18 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.884 19 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:53.044 20 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:53.050 21 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:53.283 22 20 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:56.299 23 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:57.269 24 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:59.977
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