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.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to