The Brazilian, with a time of one minute 35.043 seconds, was almost three-tenths of a second quicker than double world champion Fernando Alonso's [ Images ] McLaren [ Images ].

Massa's Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen [ Images ], who won the season-opening race in Australia [ Images ], will start third on the grid at the Sepang circuit on Sunday alongside McLaren's rookie Lewis Hamilton [ Images ].

"I think at the end of the day the McLarens were really competitive and it makes us work even harder to have a good race tomorrow," Massa told a news conference.

In a scintillating final lap of qualifying, with the threat of rain, both Raikkonen and Alonso briefly held pole before Massa snatched it from them.

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Qualifying results from Sepang:
1.  Felipe Massa (Brazil [ Images ])           Ferrari       1:35.043
2.  Fernando Alonso (Spain)         McLaren       1:35.310
3.  Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)        Ferrari       1:35.479
4.  Lewis Hamilton (Britain)        McLaren       1:36.045
5.  Nick Heidfeld [ Images ] (Germany [ Images ])         BMW Sauber [ Images ]       1:36.543
6.  Nico Rosberg [ Images ] (Germany)          Williams - Toyota [ Images ]       1:36.829
7.  Robert Kubica [ Images ] (Poland)          BMW Sauber       1:36.896
8.  Jarno Trulli [ Images ] (Italy [ Images ])            Toyota       1:36.902
9.  Ralf Schumacher (Germany)       Toyota       1:37.078
10. Mark Webber [ Images ] (Australia)         RedBull - Renault [ Images ]       1:37.345
11. Heikki Kovalainen [ Images ] (Finland)     Renault       1:35.630
12. Giancarlo Fisichella [ Images ] (Italy)    Renault       1:35.706
13. David Coulthard [ Images ] (Britain)       RedBull - Renault       1:35.766
14. Takuma Sato [ Images ] (Japan [ Images ])             Super Aguri - Honda       1:35.945
15. Jenson Button [ Images ] (Britain)         Honda       1:36.088
16. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy)       Toro Rosso - Ferrari       1:36.145
17. Scott Speed (U.S.)              Toro Rosso - Ferrari       1:36.578
18. Anthony Davidson [ Images ] (Britain)      Super Aguri - Honda       1:36.816
19. Rubens Barrichello [ Images ] (Brazil)     Honda       1:36.827
20. Alexander Wurz (Austria)        Williams - Toyota       1:37.326
21. Christijan Albers (Netherlands) Spyker - Ferrari       1:38.279
22. Adrian Sutil [ Images ] (Germany)          Spyker - Ferrari       1:38.415