SEPANG: Australian Mark Webber took pole position for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix in wildly dramatic circumstances.

After three of the field's four world champions had been eliminated in the opening mini-session and condemned to start among the tailenders at the back of the grid, Webber and his Red Bull team showed them all how it should be done. The 33-year-old timed his best lap of one minute and 49.327 seconds to perfection to grab the second pole position of his career ahead of German Nico Rosberg.

Webber's Red Bull team-mate, Germany's Sebastian Vettel was third ahead of two more Germans, Adrian Sutil of Force India and Nico Hulkenberg of Williams. Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, in the second Williams, was seventh ahead of his old Ferrari team-mate and comeback kid Michael Schumacher in the second Mercedes.