Pole for Fisichella

Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella pipped Jenson Button in his Honda to pole position in a hectic qualifying session at Sepang.

Rookie Nico Rosberg lines up third for Williams, but Michael Schumacher will start 14th after an engine-change penalty dropped him from where he qualified in fourth.

With the German’s penalty, Williams’ Mark Webber will start fourth, Juan Pablo Montoya’s McLaren fifth and his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen sixth.

World champion Fernando Alonso could not better seventh, while Christian Klien's Red Bull took eighth.

Rather than risk the engine expiring in qualifying or the race, Ferrari decided to put a new V8 in Schumacher’s car ahead of the new qualifying format.

The six slowest cars are eliminated after each of two 15-minute sessions before a top-10 shoot-out determined the front of the grid.

Ferrari’s other driver Felipe Massa had already taken the penalty – dropping out in the second session to line up last – as had David Coulthard, in his Ferrari-powered Red Bull. The Scotsman will line-up 20th.

And the Ferrari curse stretched to former drivers too – Honda’s Rubens Barrichello, who left the Italian team after six years in the winter, also had to take a new engine will now start 21st.

Toyota had questioned the durability of their engines after completing plenty of laps in practice and Ralf Schumacher paid the price when his blew up just after he had crossed the start/finish line. He will, though, go back to 19th when his penalty is applied.

Schumacher’s team-mate Jarno Trulli, who took no further part after missing the second cut, benefits from the problems of those ahead of him to start ninth and BMW’s Jacques Villeneuve was 10th.

The expected backmarkers took no further part in qualifying after the first cut, but have all been bumped up due to the problems encountered by those further up the order.

Toro Rosso have Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi in 13th and 14th places, respectively, Christijan Albers pipped Midland team-mate Tiago Monteiro to 15th spot, and Super Aguri’s team leader Takuma Sato will start 17th, ahead of Yuji Ide.

Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix, Sepang, Malaysia

Leading Positions after Qualifying

1 Laps: 1 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1min 33.840secs, 2 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 1:33.986, 3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:34.626, 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams 1:34.672, 5 Juan Montoya (Col) McLaren 1:34.916, 6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 1:34.983, 7 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:35.747, 8 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 1:38.715, 9 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:34.702, 10 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) BMW Sauber 1:34.752, 11 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:34.783, 12 Scott Speed (USA) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:36.297, 13 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:36.581, 14 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:34.668, 15 Christijan Albers (Ned) Midland 1:37.426, 16 Tiago Monteiro (Por) Midland 1:37.819, 17 Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri 1:39.011, 18 Yuji Ide (Jpn) Super Aguri 1:40.720, 19 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:34.586, 20 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 1:34.614, 21 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 1:34.683, 22 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:35.091

Note: Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Davaid Coulthard, Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa all incurred ten place penalties due to engine changes