Length: 5.443 km
Number of Laps: 56 (310.408 Km)
Best Lap: JP. Montoya - 1'34''223 (2004, Williams)
Record Pole: M. Schumacher - 1'33''074 (2004, Ferrari)
2005 Pole: F. Alonso - 1'35''090 (Renault)
2005 Podium: F. Alonso - J. Trulli - N. Heidfeld

Jenson Button crossed the line shortly after Fisichella, the Honda just shy of the Renault with 1:33.986, but the Englishman will be happy to start the race on the front row, and looking to overcome the clutch problem that delayed his opening lap last weekend.

A fine third place for Nico Rosberg proves that his eye-catching debut performance was no flash in the pan, the highly rated German circulating all morning in the same time zones as experienced team mate Mark Webber. There was no repeat of last week’s mistakes either, indicating that this rookie learns quickly, as he slotted in a 1:34.626 to secure his place in the second row alongside compatriot Michael Schumacher.

Schumacher and Ferrari looked quick all session, but ultimately were not quick enough to repeat their Bahrain pole performance. Michael’s time of 1:34.668 was a mere few-thousandth of a second shy of Rosberg’s, but good enough for fourth position.

Mark Webber put the second Williams in fifth position, re-affirming the team’s belief that the FW28 and the Cosworth engine are among the best in the field. Having promised a more ‘aggressive’ attack on this race they appear to have delivered, and Mark’s time was slower than Schumacher by only a fraction of a tenth.

In sixth and seventh, somewhat lower than their early session pace suggested, came the McLaren MP4-21’s of Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen. These two had easily topped the first section of qualifying with a minimum of laps, and Montoya shows no sign of the problems that hindered him in Bahrain. With both setting final times in the 1:34.9’s, some half a second slower than they achieved in the first two segments of the session, a heavy fuel load has to be a consideration.

It is possible that the same applies to Fernando Alonso, the World Champion putting the Renault in a lowly, for him, eighth position with a time over a second away from his quickest of the day.

The fifth row is headed by the ever-improving Christian Klien, the young Austrian delivering another top-ten performance in the Red Bull. Notably, Klien sat out most of the final ‘fuel burning’ laps, perhaps having settled for a high fuel load, knowing he was assured of ninth at least.

Assured, that is, by the bad luck that struck Ralf Schumacher and Toyota. After the disaster that was Bahrain the predicted improvement was apparent, the TF106 much better here at Sepang than at Sakhir. In the early sessions Ralf, and team mate Jarno Trulli, looked to be among the top ten with ease, and although Trulli ultimately lost out on a shoot-out position by a fraction of a second, Schumacher Junior was in only for the engine to expire in a cloud of smoke just after he set the time. Ralf will start from the back, therefore, while Trulli starts 12th.

Taking tenth spot will be David Coulthard, the veteran Red Bull driver missing out on a top ten spot by the smallest of margins. In fact the competition was such that the slowest runner in the second segment missed the cut by less than two tenths of a second.

Joining Trulli on row six is Rubens Barrichello, the Brazilian looking somewhat at odds compared to Honda team mate Button, while row seven will be the BMW-Saubers of Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld.

Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi in the Toro Rosso’s have row eight to themselves, the expected performance advantage of the V10 Cosworth failing to materialise once again, and no improvement came from the MF1 Racing pair of Cristijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro who have the ninth row wrapped up.

Bringing up the rear again will be the two Super Aguri’s, the brave outfit again getting both cars into the race with Takuma Sato ahead of Yuji Ide, but they will start ahead of Felipe Massa in the Ferrari and the luckless Ralf Schumacher, both of whom have changed engines.