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Ferraris claim front two spots on grid for Malaysian GP

Ferrari claimed the front two spots on the grid for the Malaysian Grand Prix, with Felipe Massa snatching pole position yesterday, qualifying ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton will start today's race eighth and ninth respectively after collecting five place penalties for impeding riv

It was the second straight year Massa claimed pole at Sepang, with his time of 1:35.748 almost half a second ahead of Raikkonen.

It was a boost for Ferrari after their worst start to a season since 1992 in Australia last week. Massa started at fourth on the grid in Melbourne but retired on the 30th lap and Raikkonen moved up from 15th on the grid to third before encountering difficulty and eventually retiring five laps from the end.

Raikkonen picked up one championship point when he was classified in eighth place in Australia.

"Our championship is starting now," Massa said after qualifying.

"What happened in the last race was incredible. Now we can manage to put everything together to have a very consistent, good and quick championship," he said.

Stewards summoned McLaren pair Hamilton and Kovalainen after complaints from Renault's Fernando Alonso and BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.

A McLaren spokesman confirmed the penalty and said the team would not appeal.

Heidfeld, who moved up from seventh to fifth, and Alonso, now eighth, both said they were held up at the end of the third and final session.

They were still on quick laps while others were slowing down to save fuel.

Kovalainen had qualified third with Hamilton, the championship leader after winning in Melbourne, fourth in a session completed before rain fell.

Alonso, the double world champion who drove for McLaren last year but fell out with management and Hamilton before returning to Renault, spoke to stewards before the McLaren drivers were heard.

McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh said there had been no deliberate intent to hold anyone up.

Rain threatened throughout the session yesterday, but there were only a few spots. There was rain forecast for race day today.

Those eliminated in the second session were Williams' Nico Rosberg -- who had a hydraulic leak yesterday -- the Honda pair of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, Renault's Nelson Piquet Jr and Red Bull's David Coulthard.

Coulthard received a late clearance by stewards to take part yesterday after crashing during the opening practice on Friday and sitting out the second session.

The team and race stewards examined a car that had shown signs of unusual fragility in the first two races of the season.

In session two both Ferraris bettered the race lap record time that has stood since 2004, becoming the first cars this weekend to drop below 1:35.00.
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