There were top ten grid positions in Malaysian for both BMW drivers, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso.
BMW
Robert Kubica: I'm quite happy with today's performance, although just a little was missing for me to be on the second row of the grid. The unpredictable weather brought an additional thrill to the qualifying. With the set-up I chose, I knew that qualifying would not be easy for me, but over the weekend we have put a lot of effort into the race preparation so I'm optimistic for tomorrow."
Nick Heidfeld: I'm very disappointed about the outcome of Q3. The first corners of my last lap went smoothly, but then there were several cars driving very slowly on their in-laps. Apparently they had no information that the qualifying was still going on. Before turn four I lost a lot of time because both McLarens were cruising on the racing line. I think this has cost me about two tenths of a second, which would have meant being third instead of seventh. I just couldn't drive on the line I wanted and, even more importantly, could not brake were I wanted. However, I was very happy with my car in qualifying."
Red Bull
Mark Webber: Today went better than expected to be honest. We worked hard on the car yesterday and the guys did a great job to make the improvements that they did, so we've laid the foundations ahead of tomorrow's race. Q3 was quite tricky for a lot of people, as the grip level was lower than in Q2, but we're in a sensible position for the start of the race. If it's half as wild as Melbourne - it will be interesting to see."
David Coulthard: I was a bit surprised as in qualifying I was slower in the first sector than I had been in the morning practice. I'd lost some mechanical grip, which made it difficult to nail the middle sector. What's happened this weekend doesn't concern me, as a racing driver you never think you're going to have a car failure, so you don't think about it, and I have complete faith in the team too."
Renault
Fernando Alonso: We achieved our first objective today, which was to get into Q3. We can now concentrate on our second objective which is to improve our pace in the race and to finish in the points. I could have done better in Q3 this afternoon as I was with Heidfeld on a fast lap while the others were going slowly, and that affected me a bit, which is a shame. I am sure that the race tomorrow will be interesting and I hope we can find our way into the points, just like in Melbourne. We must now concentrate on our preparation for the race tomorrow."
Nelson Piquet Jr: I am relatively satisfied with my qualifying this afternoon. I made good progress in the last free practice session this morning and my qualifying went without too many problems. Of course I must still improve, but I am not too far away from my teammate and I cannot wait to see how the race goes tomorrow. My objective will be to do better than Melbourne and to reach the end of my second Grand Prix, and if possible to score some points."
