SEPANG As the temperatures soared past 38 degrees, Michael Schumacher was the coolest man in the pitlane on Saturday after cruising to the 32nd pole position of his career ahead of Sunday's season-ending Malaysian Grand Prix.
The newly-crowned triple world champion needed only eight laps of his allocated 12 to top the times in qualifying for the 56-laps race, repeating his feat of grabbing pole in Malaysia last year and registering his fourth pole in successive races.
It was also the ninth pole of the season for the 31-year-old German who ended up four-tenths of a second clear of nearest rival Finn Mika Hakkinen in a McLaren by clocking a best time of one minute and 37.397 seconds.
"It was not as easy as it looked at all," said Schumacher afterward with a smile. "I only did eight laps because I did not really have time to go out again at the end so I stayed on just eight.
"But the car handled well and I think we found the optimum balance both for qualifying and for the longer runs today. The team has done a good job." Hakkinen clocked his best time to grab second place in the final seconds of the session after the checkered flag had been waved, moving up from fourth with a final dramatic lap in which he had one big anxious moment, when he scrambled to keep control of his car.
His McLaren teammate Briton David Coulthard was third-fastest after also improving his time in the final seconds to push Brazilian Rubens Barrichello back from second to fourth in his Ferrari.
"I feel sorry for Rubens," said Schumacher. "He has a lot of flu this weekend and he is not feeling at all well.
It was a big boost for him when he saw he was second in those final minutes and, naturally, a big disappointment when he lost that place. " The battle between the two top teams will settle this year's constructors' championship as Ferrari need only three points to clinch the title and their first drivers and teams double' in 21 years.
(Reuter)