[12] During the previous year's grand prix, McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen suffered a large crash at turn nine of the circuit.

Speaking in his regular BBC Sport column, Webber said the run-off area at turn nine was too tight, which could cause an even more serious accident in the future without improvements.

[16] Jarno Trulli of Toyota was second, with the two BMW Sauber cars of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld third and fourth fastest.

[17] The third practice session saw Ferrari leading the way, Felipe Massa ahead of Kimi Räikkönen, with the two Brawn cars over half a second slower in third and fourth.

[19] Also knocked out were the Force India's of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil, McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen, and the Toro Rosso of Sébastien Bourdais.

The second part of qualifying saw the Toro Rosso of Sébastien Buemi, McLaren's reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, BMW's Heidfeld, Renault's Nelson Piquet, and Williams' Nakajima all fail to progress.

Jenson Button claimed pole position in the final part of qualifying, starting his lap just two seconds before the session ended to put in a time of 1.20.527, one tenth quicker than second-placed Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull.

Toyota's Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli were sixth and seventh fastest, in front of Renault's Alonso, Rosberg in the Williams, and the BMW of Kubica.

Nico Rosberg made a particularly strong getaway from ninth, and ended up alongside Fernando Alonso in fifth place by the first braking zone.

Shortly after the safety car pulled in and the race restarted, the McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen suffered from gearbox failure, forcing him to retire.

As he could potentially run out of fuel before the end of the race, Massa was instructed to give up fourth place to Vettel with 5 laps remaining.

Heidfeld had to settle for seventh, in the process breaking Michael Schumacher's record of 24 consecutive finishes, while Nico Rosberg claimed the final point in eighth place.