Formula One news

Massa storms to Malaysian pole

Felipe Massa stormed to pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday, leading a Ferrari fight-back with Kimi Raikkonen 0.5s behind in second place. Heikki Kovalainen qualified third ahead of Lewis Hamilton but the McLaren pair are almost a full second off Massa's pace.

Qualifying got underway at the newly resurfaced Sepang circuit in very hot and humid conditions, amid concerns that the teams could be in for some brief rain showers. The first session saw Fisichella, Nakajuma, Bourdais, Sato, Sutil and Davidson eliminated.

The second session eliminated Button, Coulthard, Piquet, Barrichello, Vettel and Rosberg meaning neither Williams made the top ten after both finished in the points a week ago in Australia.

In the final pole shoot-out, Raikkonen looked to have it all under control until Massa pulled out an unbelievable lap to go half a second faster and take pole position. The two Ferraris lead the two McLarens with Jarno Trulli impressing again in the Toyota in fifth. 

Kubica and Heidfeld took sixth and seventh for BMW ahead of Webber, Alonso and Timo Glock rounded off the top ten as he recovers from his major crash in Australia.

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