Saturday March 22, 02:42 PM

Massa puts Ferrari on pole in Malaysia

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By John O'Brien

SEPANG, Malaysia (Reuters) - Brazilian Felipe Massa secured pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix ahead of world champion team mate Kimi Raikkonen on an all-Ferrari front row on Saturday.

Driving in hot and humid conditions under heavy cloud cover, Massa lapped 0.482 seconds quicker than the Finn with a pole time of 1:35.748.

The McLarens of Heikki Kovalainen and championship leader Lewis Hamilton filled the second row, ahead of Italy's Jarno Trulli for Toyota and Poland's Robert Kubica in a BMW Sauber.

Ferrari have been in imperious form all weekend after suffering a disappointing season-opener in Australia, where neither car finished the race, and their front row sweep is the team's first since last September's Belgian Grand Prix.

Massa, who also started from pole in last year's Malaysian Grand Prix but finished fifth, was delighted with the performance of his car.

"Our championship starts now because what happened in the last race was incredible," he told reporters.

"We did not expect that but we did a very good job during the week and hopefully we can put everything together now to have a quick and consistent championship."

The threat of rain hung over the qualifying session. Sunday's race, with drivers no longer having traction control to help them stay on the track, could prove a real challenge if there is a downpour.

HAMILTON HOPEFUL

Raikkonen was disappointed with his final qualifying session after setting the fastest time of the weekend in the second session.

"I was not too happy with the last section of qualifying," said the Finn. "I just could not get a good grip or the best out of the car. But second is a good place to start and we should have a strong race.

"It's going to be a long, hot race tomorrow and we are not sure about the weather but looking forward, we are quite happy."

Hamilton, winner in Melbourne but outqualified by his new Finnish team mate for the first time, took consolation in last year's race where the McLarens finished one-two despite being pipped to pole by Massa.

"We changed some things today and I'm not really sure whether it was the right way to go or not but we'll see tomorrow," said the 23-year-old Briton, who had not been off the front row since Belgium last year.

"I wouldn't say we were on the back foot but for sure they have got a very quick car," he added of the Ferraris' pace.

"But they did last year and we took them at the first corner so we've got to remain positive. We've got to get good points and I think we can still do that."

Kovailanen matched his qualifying position from Australia last week and served notice to Hamilton that he will not just be his deputy within the McLaren set-up.

"I think third place was about the best we could achieve today," Kovalainen said.

"I'm happy about that too, a clean leap without any big mistakes... a bit like it was in Melbourne.

"We are still in a good position at the start tomorrow and we will see how the strategy goes."

Last year's race winner Fernando Alonso, Spain's double world champion who has returned to Renault after a difficult year alongside Hamilton at McLaren, qualified ninth after failing to make the top 10 in Australia.

Germany's Nick Heidfeld, for BMW Sauber, and Australian Mark Webber in a Red Bull qualified seventh and eighth with Alonso being joined by Toyota's German Timo Glock on the fifth row.

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