So far this season, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has recorded a clean sweep of pole positions, admittedly from just two races. After Kimi Raikkonen's number one slot on the grid in Melbourne, it was Felipe Massa's turn to take pole, the fourth of his Formula 1 career. If tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix is just half as exciting as this afternoon's qualifying session, then it will be very exciting indeed. Once again, the Scuderia's main opposition came from the McLaren-Mercedes duo of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton and the Spaniard and the two Ferrari drivers all traded fastest times during the final third part of the qualifying procedure. It was only in the very last moments of the session that Felipe crossed the line to take pole, while the reigning world champion lines up alongside him.

Kimi is right behind his team-mate in third place and in the official post-session press conference hinted that starting third, on the clean side of the track could turn out to be better than getting off the line from the outside of the front row. Hamilton is fourth. Confirming BMW-Sauber's position in the relative order of the teams, Nick Heidfeld is on the third row in fifth place with Nico Rosberg showing well to take sixth place in the Williams-Toyota. At the very end of the session, there were a very few drops of rain and the threat of a heavy tropical shower is ever present in this part of the world, but apparently the chances are minimal for one during the race which starts one hour later than usual at 3 in the afternoon local time. In some ways rain would be welcome for its cooling effect, given this will be such a stern test of the cars' and especially the engines' reliability at this early stage of the season.

As well as being the second race of the season and the second pole position for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, it is the sixth time that a Ferrari driver will start the Malaysian Grand Prix from pole, the 188th in the history of the Prancing Horse in Formula 1. It was Felipe's fourth career pole.

Jean Todt: "Today's qualifying was very exciting, with the fight going down to the wire between us and those who seem to be our closest rivals. The changing weather, with the threat of imminent rain, rather mixed up the programme. Felipe put in an extraordinary lap and I am particularly happy for him after his troubles in Melbourne qualifying. Kimi did a great job to take third spot. We have taken an important step towards our targets for this weekend, but the key part comes tomorrow. The race here will be particularly tough on both the cars and drivers because of the high temperatures. As usual, reliability, strategy, team work and the performance of the drivers will be the factors that decide the final result."
 

Felipe Massa: "I am very happy with this pole. On my second run I had a bit of traffic but on the last one, I got a really clean lap and I got a hundred percent out of the car. At turn 7 and in the final sector there were a few drops of rain, but luckily it did not get worse and I was able to finish my run without any bother. Obviously, tomorrow I want to finish the race in the same position in which I start it. We know we are up against some very strong opponents and that this is always a hard race, both from the physical point of view and in terms of the stresses on the car. In these very high temperatures, it is like racing in a sauna, and the track became very slippery, but I was able to put together my best lap right at the last minute."

Kimi Raikkonen: "All in all, today's result is what we could have expected. The balance of my car was better than in yesterday's free practice, but still not perfect for a single timed lap. But it is very good over a long run and so I think I can be a frontrunner in tomorrow's race. The battle was very close but we saw already in Melbourne that the McLaren is competitive in qualifying. The heat? It's the same for everyone so it should not be a decisive factor tomorrow."

Luca Baldisserri: "A very exciting qualifying, closely fought to the very last moment! We are happy with the overall result, with Felipe on pole and Kimi starting right behind him. Qualifying was affected by the weather forecast and the risk of rain meant we had to change our plans slightly, especially in terms of how we used the tyres. The F2007 showed it has great potential and we are sure we can get the most out of them tomorrow, while well aware that it will be very difficult as we are up against very competitive adversaries."

Qualifying session: F.Massa: 1st 1.35.043 chassis 260; K. Raikkonen: 3rd 1.35.479 chassis 261; Weather: air temperature 34°C, track temperature 49/45°C, dry track, partially cloudy, a few drops of rain in the final minutes.