Webber hopes to convert pole into points

Mark Webber is keen to make amends for a frustrating race in Australia last weekend after securing pole today for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Heavy rain before and during qualifying today threw up a number of surprises with both the McLarens and Ferraris crashing out of the first phase after delaying their decision to head onto the circuit.

A deluge then caused Q3 to be delayed but when qualifying was resumed, Webber was the only driver to switch from wet-weather tyres to intermediates.

The 33-year-old quickly became the fastest on the circuit and his time of one minute 49.327seconds was 1.3secs faster than the rest of the pack.

Webber finished ninth in his home race last weekend after qualifying second and he is eager to make up for that disappointment tomorrow.

"It was tricky today," he said."When you look at the amount of standing water there was in places during Q1 and Q2, trying to get everything right and a clear lap was difficult, especially as there is a fair difference in pace between some of the cars.

"A few big names went out in the first session, which was a surprise, but it just goes to show how sensitive everything is to timing.

"We know Sundays we haven't executed the cleanest races this year.

"The guys have worked like hell in Milton Keynes and Viry, we are doing our utmost to execute those Sunday afternoons.

"Tomorrow is a long race, this place can throw up a lot of stuff in the two-hour duration. We are not getting ahead of ourselves but we did what we had to do today."

Webber dedicated the result to his engineer Ciaron Pilbeam after the two had conferred to make the decision to switch tyres.

"The pole goes to Ciaron, my engineer, as he made the call for inters in Q3," he added.

"I said 'have a look at the track, what do you think?' and he said 'yeah let's go for it'. It was tricky in places, in the last corner there was a bit of aquaplaning, but I kept it on the black stuff and got the job done."