Malaysian GP Qualifying - Jenson Button on pole again!

Qualifying for the 56-lap Malaysian Grand Prix proved to be a thrilling affair as the threatening rain held off leaving the front-runners in a frantic battle for the pole position.

For the second straight Grand Prix it was Jenson Button who got the job done for Brawn Mercedes as he stopped the clocks in 1:35.181s, less than a tenth clear of the hard-charging Jarno Trulli. As Button celebrates yet another success for the new Brawn GP team, Trulli will be a little frustrated to lose out on the pole position by the slightest of margins.

Sebastien Vettel was third fastest in his Red Bull Renault three-tenths off the ultimate time but of course takes a ten position grid penalty into the Grand Prix courtesy of his incident with Robert Kubica in Australia.

Rubens Barrichello recorded the fourth fastest time but like Vettel drops down the order with a grid position penalty. The Brazilian veteran takes position drop to eighth due to a gearbox change on the Brawn Mercedes this morning.

With Vettel and Barrichello both dropping back, Timo Glock will line up third in the second Toyota ahead of Nico Rosberg in the leading Williams Toyota. Rosberg in particular will be a little frustrated with the qualifying pace once again after showing so well in practice.

Mark Webber was seventh fastest in the second Red Bull but starts fifth ahead of Robert Kubica in the leading BMW Sauber.
Over at Ferrari it was an evening of drama as Felipe Massa fell at the first hurdle and Kimi Raikkonen scraped into the final round of qualifying in his F60.

After setting the ninth fastest time in the final round of qualifying, Raikkonen lines up seventh while Massa is just 16th. Qualifying would prove to be a disaster for the Brazilian Ferrari star who completed just one run in the first round of qualifying on the option tyre and paid the price as he found himself bumped down and out of the running. Massa now faces a very tough task from the back end of the field tomorrow afternoon.

Renault has not looked particularly strong at Sepang but at least Fernando Alonso salvaged a ninth position on the grid for the Anglo-French team, Nelson Piquet meanwhile continued his second year struggle with the team and will start back in 17th.

Nick Heidfeld did not make the final round of qualifying in his KERS-equipped BMW Sauber and will start the race from tenth position ahead of Kazuki Nakajima in the second Williams Toyota. Nakajima has shown flashes of pace in practice, but is struggling to get the best from the FW31 package when it counts in qualifying.

McLaren Mercedes freely admit that the MP4-24 package is not particularly competitive and it is therefore of little surprise to see Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen fail to make the top ten shoot-out. The 2008 champion will start 12th ahead of the unfortunate Vettel and his team-mate Kovalainen.

Sebastien Bourdais led the way at Toro Rosso Ferrari as he made it into the second round of qualifying and will start 15th ahead of Massa and Piquet.

Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil were 18th and 19th for the Mercedes-powered Force India team while rookie Sebastien Buemi lines up 20th and last after going off track in his final run in the Toro Rosso.

Qualifying has provided us with a pretty interesting grid, but the question remains whether anyone can halt the Button-Brawn steamroller.