Michael starts from pole
What is most likely to have been the last qualifying in the double quick lap formula, has become an interesting second hour. First qualifying had shown the Renaults were very fast, placing them both in front of everyone. It left room to suspect a brilliant performance of the Michelin runners, but things however run a little bit different.
The first driver who was able to set a really good time was Christiano Da Matta, doing 0.7 seconds better than his teammate during the second qualifying, and furthermore substantially improving his starting position. Many runners that started after him came short and had to be satisfied with a place behind the Toyota.
It was then Takuma Sato who seemed to be able to improve this time, with some tenths in advance after the two first sectors, but the BAR driver wanted a little too much in a fast left-right combination and hence spun his car into the gravel.
Both Williamses then took the lead, with Button positioning between them a few minutes later. McLaren on the other hand again had a dissapointing qualifying, however they have now better places on the grid than in Melbourne.
Then Barrichello set a provisional pole time, quickly countered by Mark Webber, who appears to be in great shape at Sepang. Webber will start the Malaysian GP 2004 from the first row, after another very quick lap of Michael Schumacher, more than 0.6 seconds ahead of everybody else.
What happened to Renault then? Well Trulli did run a little too nervous with the pole in sight, and lost considerable time in every sector, leaving him in the middle of the grid. Alonso managed very good times in sector one and two, and was running towards the second starting position, until he spun into the gravel in the one but last corner.
All this will lead us to the following grid:
1. 1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'33"074 214.397 Km/h
2. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'33"715 + 0'00"641
3. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'33"756 + 0'00"682
4. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'34"054 + 0'00"980
5. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'34"164 + 0'01"090
6. 9 BUTTON BAR Honda M 1'34"221 + 0'01"147
7. 4 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'34"235 + 0'01"161
8. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'34"413 + 0'01"339
9. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'34"602 + 0'01"528
10. 16 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'34"917 + 0'01"843
11. 12 MASSA Sauber Petronas B 1'35"039 + 0'01"965
12. 11 FISICHELLA Sauber Petronas B 1'35"061 + 0'01"987
13. 15 KLIEN Jaguar Cosworth M 1'35"158 + 0'02"084
14. 17 PANIS Toyota M 1'35"617 + 0'02"543
15. 18 HEIDFELD Jordan Ford B 1'36"569 + 0'03"495
16. 20 BRUNI Minardi Cosworth B 1'38"577 + 0'05"503
17. 21 BAUMGARTNER Minardi Cosworth B 1'39"272 + 0'06"198
18. 19 PANTANO Jordan Ford B 1'39"902 + 0'06"828
