The Red Bull Racing driver, Australia's Mark Webber, took pole position at the 2010 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix after clocking the fastest time of one minute and 49.327secs in the qualifying session today.

It was the second pole position in the Formula One (F1) career of the 33-year-old and the third successive time for the team this year.

"It was a very tricky qualifying session for everyone, there's no question about it. When you look at the amount of standing water in places in Q1 (the first session) and Q2... just trying to get a clear lap was quite challenging," said Webber at a press conference.

He also praised his engineer for recommending the tyres that took him to the pole position.

"He made the call and told me to go for it, telling me by the third or fourth lap on them, we could go for pole. It was tricky in places but it was the right tyre and I kept it on the black stuff and got the job done," said Webber.

Accompanying him in the front row was Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team, Germany's Nico Rosberg who clocked 1:49.327s.

"My run in Q3 was definitely my best of the day and I put in a good time on the first quick lap. By the second lap, the tyres started to degrade so it just wasn't possible to go any quicker from there.

"As soon as we went out, I thought intermediates (tyres) were the way to go and maybe, I should have come in but in the end, it worked out well for us. I'm confident that we can have a strong race from here tomorrow, if it is wet or dry, and I'm looking forward to it," said Rosberg.

Meanwhile, Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel failed to grab his third pole in a row after clocking the third fastest time in third qualifying session with 1:50.673s.

Wet track

Heavy rain at the Sepang International Circuit temporarily halted the qualifying session of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The race stewards brought out the red flags midway through during the third qualifying (Q3) as a storm passed over the track, causing very difficult driving conditions for the drivers.

The beginning of the second official qualifying session which started at 4pm today, also resulted in several front-runners facing difficulties in handling their mean machines.

Among them were Australian Grand Prix champion Jenson Button of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team who skidded in the gravel, while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, mistimed their runs and failed to make the cut for Q2.

Button will start his Malaysian race from 17th grid, while Alonso, Hamilton and Massa will line up in 19th, 20th and 21st grid, respectively.

"We were expecting the rain to stop and that is why we stayed in the garage longer than the others. When we went out, in fact the conditions got worse and even on the extreme wets, we are unable to improve our time.

"However, the results of qualifying is only worth the paper on which it is written because the points are assigned at the end of the race. Of course, starting from the back put us in a difficult position but as we saw last Sunday in Melbourne, anything can happen and we have to trust in our abilities," said Alonso.

The 56-lap race tomorrow will start at 4pm.

The following is the final free practice results for tomorrow's race, the third of 19 season races over 5.543km for a race distance of 310.408km.

Third practice

    1. Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull Racing (1 minute 33.542 seconds)

    2. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (1:33.559s)

    3. Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull Racing (1:33.587s)

    4. Fernando Alonso (ESP) Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro (1:33.751s)

    5. Michael Schumacher (GER) Mercedes GP Petronas (1:33.992s)

    6. Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes GP Petronas (1:34.090s)

    7. Jenson Button (GBR) Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (1:34.113s)

    8. Felipe Massa (BRA) Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro (1:34.174s)

    9. Rubens Barrichello (BRA) AT&T Williams (1:34.540s)

    10.Robert Kubica (POL) Renault F1 Team (1:34.549s)

    11.Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India F1 Team (1:34.623s)

    12.Sebastien Buemi (SUI) Scuderia Toro Rosso (1:34.673s)

    13.Nico Hulkenburg (GER) AT&T Williams (1:34.882)

    14.Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Force India F1 Team (1:34.957s)

    15.Jaime Alguersuari (ESP) Scuderia Toro Rosso (1:35.026s)

    16.Vitaly Petrov (RUS) Renault F1 Team (1:35.076s)

    17.Pedro De La Rosa (ESP) BMW Sauber F1 Team (1:35.477s)

    18.Kamui Kobayashi (JPN) BMW Sauber F1 Team (1:36.404s)

    19.Timo Glock (GER) Virgin Racing (1:37.299s)

     20.Jarno Trulli (ITA) Lotus Racing (1:37.369s)

     21.Heikki Kovalanen (FIN) Lotus Racing (1:38.161s)

    22.Lucas di Garsi (BRA) Virgin Racing (1:38.783s)

    23.Bruno Senna (BRA) HRT F1 Racing 1:39.868s

    24.Karun Chandhok (IND) HRT F1 Racing 1:39.895s

- Bernama