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2006 FORMULA 1: MALAYSIAN GP

RACE

2006 QUALIFYING (TIMES)

POLE, FISICHELLA, RENAULT

• The second 'super-pole' style qualifying session of the 2006 Formula 1 season, held in sweltering conditions this afternoon at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, once again saw the Renault F1 Team experience mixed fortunes during the hour. While Giancarlo Fisichella raced to pole position, a fuel rig problem between Heat 2 and the Super-Pole session left Fernando Alonso disadvantaged during the final twenty-minute session.
• The World Champion qualified eighth, but will start seventh and on the cleaner side of the grid once Michael Schumacher's Ferrari has been demoted ten places following an engine change this morning.
• With the Michelin tyres performing strongly in the oppressive heat, the team is optimistic that Giancarlo can aim for the race win, while Fernando will be looking to recover from his qualifying difficulties to score a maximum number of points.
• Giancarlo Fisichella: "I want to dedicate this win to Pietro, a childhood friend of mine who died last Sunday. This is the best pole I have had so far. Last year it was thanks to the rain, but today, everybody was up there and fighting hard for it." "The engineers made some changes to the car overnight that really improved the balance, and from the first run this morning, I could feel we had the pace to fight for the first two rows. After that, it was a question of doing the best possible job in the qualifying session, and performing to the maximum at the right time. We did it, and tomorrow, I will only be thinking about the win.

HONDA

• Jenson Button: "The team has done a fantastic job to get us on the front row of the grid and I have to thank them for that. Things were looking a lot less positive yesterday when we were really struggling to find a good set- up. A lot of hard work was done overnight and tomorrow looks promising, but let's wait and see. This is always a tough race but I'm certainly looking forward to it."

SCHUMACHER WILL LOSE 10 PLACES FOR ENGINE CHANGE (FERRARI)

• Jean Todt: "Considering our decision to have Felipe start from the back of the grid, our qualifying session was basically with only one car. This decision was taken so as to let him start the race tomorrow with a fresh engine, lots of fuel on board and new tyres."
• "Michael was also obliged to change his engine and he'll be starting from the sixth row after having gone well in qualifying. Tomorrow is going to be a very tough race with reliability and a consistent tyre performance being the decisive factors."
• "The championship has only just begun but even if we are now going through a difficult moment with the reliability of the V8 engine, what is important is to try and pick up as many points as possible. All kinds of things can happen for us tomorrow, but this is true for the others as well."
• Michael Schumacher: "I'll be starting from the sixth row which isn't too bad considering the penalty inflicted for the engine change. We're satisfied with this position and obviously I hope to end up in the points. I'd be really happy if I could get a podium finish."
• "Considering the circumstances, our objective is not to lose touch with the drivers who presumably will be fighting for the championship. The fact that Alonso and Raikkonen aren't too far ahead on the grid certainly helps me a bit. It'll be interesting to see whether overtaking will be possible and how much fuel the others have on board."
• "During unofficial practice we have seen that our race pace is fine. It's a pity that we've lost ten places on the grid because of this engine problem, but I would rather try and bring home a few points than end up with nothing at all."
• Ross Brawn: "This is very frustrating for us. We have had various problems with the engine but we'll get over them. I'm convinced of that. It's a pity, because during all the winter testing we were very reliable. Considering the amount of fuel that Michael had on board because of the ten-position penalty, his qualifying session went quite well. The tyres seem to be very consistent in their performance. We can expect a tough race but we'll do everything possible to finish in the points."

TOYOTA

• Panasonic Toyota Racing goes into tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix with hope of a strong performance despite a disappointing result in today's qualifying. At a sweltering Sepang circuit on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, the Toyota cars showed improved pace compared to last week's Bahrain Grand Prix. Unfortunately Ralf Schumacher suffered an engine failure when he was challenging strongly for the top ten so he will start from the back of the grid. Jarno Trulli was suffering from understeer, managing 13th quickest in Session 2 but he will start from 9th place due to a number of engine changes by the higher finishers. Toyota will now push hard to salvage a strong result in the race.

LAST YEAR'S 2005 RACE RESULT

• 1 Fernando Alonso , Renault , 56 laps
• 2 Jarno Trulli , Toyota +24.3s *** Toyota's first ever podium ***
• 3 Nick Heidfeld, Williams-BMW +32.1
• 4 Montoya, McLaren-Mercedes +41.6
• 5 R. Schumacher, Toyota +51.8
• 6 Coulthard, Red Bull-Cosworth

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