Sebastian Vettel has stormed to his second pole position of the 2011 season, albeit just one tenth faster than second place man Lewis Hamilton.
The top five in Malaysia, Vettel, Hamilton, Webber, Button and Alonso matches the previous qualifying session in Australia a fortnight ago, however the times are far closer, just over three tenths cover the top four.
Nick Heidfeld improved on his previous outing, to jump ahead of team-mate Vitaly Petrov in sixth and eigth respectively.
Michael Schumacher was knocked out of Q1 by his team-mate, Nico Rosberg out-qualifying the seven-time champion for the second time this year.
It was a similar story at Force India, with rookie Paul di Resta three places ahead of Adrian Sutil, the same happened in Australia.
The first session was halted by a red flag after just three minutes after the left-side engine bodywork flew of the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi.
Following a short delay, the session restarted with both Team Lotus cars heading out to attempt a quick lap. It looked promising for one of them, namely Heikki Kovalainen, looking as though he could make Q2. It wasn’t to be as several drivers improved on their best laps.
Pastor Maldonado joined the usual suspects in the drop-zone, his fastest lap two-tenths too slow to make the next round of qualifying.
HRT surprisingly made the 107% qualifying cut and will partake in the race on Sunday.
Malaysian GP Qualifying Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Q3 Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:37.468 | 1:35.934 | 1:34.870 |
| 03. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:37.924 | 1:36.080 | 1:35.179 |
| 02. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:36.861 | 1:35.852 | 1:34.974 |
| 04. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:37.033 | 1:36.569 | 1:35.200 |
| 06. | N. Heidfeld | Renault | 1:37.224 | 1:36.811 | 1:36.124 |
| 05. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:36.897 | 1:36.320 | 1:35.802 |
| 07. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:36.744 | 1:36.557 | 1:36.251 |
| 17. | A. Sutil | Force India | 1:37.693 | 1:37.593 | |
| 18. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:38.276 | ||
| 10. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:36.994 | 1:36.691 | 1:36.820 |
| 16. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:37.759 | 1:37.528 | |
| 08. | V. Petrov | Renault | 1:37.210 | 1:36.642 | 1:36.324 |
| 15. | R. Barrichello | Williams | 1:38.163 | 1:37.496 | |
| 11. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:36.904 | 1:37.035 | |
| 09. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:37.316 | 1:36.388 | 1:36.809 |
| 12. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | 1:37.693 | 1:37.160 | |
| 13. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1:37.677 | 1:37.347 | |
| 14. | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:38.045 | 1:37.370 | |
| 20. | J. Trulli | Team Lotus | 1:38.791 | ||
| 24. | N. Karthikeyan | Hispania | 1:42.574 | ||
| 19. | H. Kovalainen | Team Lotus | 1:38.645 | ||
| 22. | J. d’Ambrosio | Virgin | 1:41.001 | ||
| 21. | T. Glock | Virgin | 1:40.648 | ||
| 23. | V. Liuzzi | Hispania | 1:41.549 | ||
| Q1 107% Time: | 1:43.516 | ||||
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