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After a
difficult lead up to the first qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand
Prix the session itself would see Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld finish in
sixth and eighth positions respectively. This was an encouraging position
for the team be be in with the next qualifying session to be run Sunday
morning.
The
session would
see Anthony Davidson first out on the track. He would set a time of
1m:34.966 after a tidy lap but was slower than his practice time. Next was
Minardi driver Albers. He would be 3 seconds down at sector two, finishing
his lap five seconds slower than Davidson. Next was BMW WilliamsF1 driver
Nick Heidfeld who was starting so early as a result of his retirement in
Australia.
He would beat Davidson's time by 1.5 seconds. The team would tell him to
conserve his fuel and tyres as he returned to his pit.
Michael Schumacher, who also retired in Australia, was next out and he would
be slower than Heidfeld after sector two and was not able to pull that time
back finishing over 0.5 seconds slower, with a time of 1m:34.072. Patrick
Freisacher was next out and the Minardi would cross the line with a time of
1m:39.268 to beat his team-mate Albers.
The next group of drivers would be lead out by Jordan driver Tiago Monteiro.
Sector one and he was already a second down, sector two and he was 2.5
seconds slower. He would finish with a time of 1m:37.856. Narain Karthikeyan
was next out and he would finish his lap to be just ahead of his team-mate
with a time of 1m:37.806.
Now it was the
turn of Sauber's Jacque Villeneuve. He would match Nick's time in the first
sector, but was 0.8 down after sector two. He would finish in fourth behind
Davidson, with a time of 1m:34.997. The Toyota was Ralf Schumacher was next
out and he would quickly get down to a very quick time. He would finish his
lap with a time of 1m:33.106 to move in to first position. For BAR's Jenson
Button he would have to suffer a ten place drop in his grid position because
of an engine change earlier this day. He was just up on Ralf after sector
one, but the erst of his lap would see him lose time to finish third with a
time of 1m:33.616.
Mass would start the next group of five drivers and he would be a tenth up
on Ralf's time after sector one. But he would lose time in the next sector
to be 0.5 down on Ralf. he would cross the line with a time of 1m:34.151 to
finish in fifth way ahead of team-mate Villeneuve. Next came one the
practice pace setters Jarno Trulli. After sector one he was ahead of Ralf
and would maintain that
after sector two. He would finish fastest with a time of 1m:32.672. An
impressive showing from the Toyota team.
Now it was Kimi Raikkonen who was out and his lap time of 1m:32.839 would
see him split the Toyota's, moving into second place. The Red Bull of
Christian Klein was next out and he would not show his impressive pace of
practice, been 0.5 seconds off the pace after sector one. He was over a
second down
after sector two, finishing with a time of 1m:33.724 to move into sixth.
Montoya was next out and he would match the pace of team-mate Raikkonen in
opening two sectors, finishing his lap in fourth with a time of 1m:33.333.
Mark Webber was the first driver out of the last group of five, courtesy of
his fifth place finish in Australia. mark was in ninth after Saturday
practice but had a difficult weekend with problems with his car. After
sector one Mark would be up on Nick but 0.3 seconds off Trulli's time.
Sector two would see looking like second place was a possibility but he
would finish his lap with a time of 1m:33.204 to move into fourth. Coulthard
was next and his lap would see him set a time of 1m:33.809 to finish behind
his team-mate Klein.
The final three drivers were Alonso, Barrichello, and Fisichella.
The
Spaniard was out first and he would be fastest after sector one and two. He
would complete his alp with a time of 1m:32.582 to move into the top spot
ahead of Trulli. For Rubens his alp would see him struggle, just like
team-mate Michael, and was half a second down after sector one, losing more
time in sector two, to finish in a poor thirteenth position with time of
1m:34.162. Now it was Fisichella's turn and he would be slightly down on
Alonso after sector one and two and would only manage third with a time of
1m:32.765. |