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Massa takes pole at Sepang
Felipe Massa continued his momentum from late last season by taking pole position for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: April 08, 2007 11:13 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Sepnag, Malaysia:
Massa, who led both of Friday's practices in a Ferrari, had a qualifying time of 1 minute, 35.043 seconds Saturday for his fourth career pole and first this season. The Brazilian ended the 2006 season with two straight poles.
Massa won the last race of 2006 and looked sharp over the winter, posting leading times in testing. A gearbox problem in qualifying for the season-opening Australian GP last month saw him start from the rear of the grid.
"After what happened in the first race, I am quite happy," Massa said. "I am quite happy to win another pole position, especially at the beginning of the season.
"In Australia for sure I could have been fighting for pole position," he added.
After leading Friday's practices, Massa tailed off to second in Saturday morning's session. But he didn't mind.
"It was a good morning and a great afternoon as well. Hopefully we can continue on like that," he said.
World champion Fernando Alonso was Saturday's second-fastest qualifier for McLaren-Mercedes with 1:35.310, ahead of Australian GP-winner Kimi Raikkonen at 1:35.479.
McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest on the 5.543-kilometer (3.444-mile) Sepang circuit in 1:36,045.
In the first race of the year at Melbourne, Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton took the podium positions, with Massa driving himself into sixth position.
Felipe Massa continued his momentum from late last season by taking pole position for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.Massa, who led both of Friday's practices in a Ferrari, had a qualifying time of 1 minute, 35.043 seconds Saturday for his fourth career pole and first this season. The Brazilian ended the 2006 season with two straight poles.
Massa won the last race of 2006 and looked sharp over the winter, posting leading times in testing. A gearbox problem in qualifying for the season-opening Australian GP last month saw him start from the rear of the grid.
"After what happened in the first race, I am quite happy," Massa said. "I am quite happy to win another pole position, especially at the beginning of the season.
"In Australia for sure I could have been fighting for pole position," he added.
After leading Friday's practices, Massa tailed off to second in Saturday morning's session. But he didn't mind.
"It was a good morning and a great afternoon as well. Hopefully we can continue on like that," he said.
World champion Fernando Alonso was Saturday's second-fastest qualifier for McLaren-Mercedes with 1:35.310, ahead of Australian GP-winner Kimi Raikkonen at 1:35.479.
McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest on the 5.543-kilometer (3.444-mile) Sepang circuit in 1:36,045.
In the first race of the year at Melbourne, Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton took the podium positions, with Massa driving himself into sixth position.
Topics mentioned in this article
Formula 1 Michael Schumacher Giancarlo Fisichella Jenson Button Narain Karthikeyan Lewis Hamilton
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