So far, so good. Pretty interesting, actually.

But now suppose that Michael and Ralf both get 10 grid-place penalties for engine changes. Oh, and that 11th and 12th place runners David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello also get them for the same reason, together with 16th fastest Felipe Massa who actually changed engines twicef Still following? The problems begin when you start trying to drop them all back 10 positions, because nobody seemed to know the protocol and the FIA don't issue a grid until Sunday morning. Oh boy. Just as everybody was beginning to get the hang of the new 'knockout' qualifying format, now it gets really complicated! Here's what we believe will be the grid: Fisichella, Button; Rosberg, Webber;

Montoya, Raikkonen; Alonso, Klien; Jarno Trulli, Jacques Villeneuve; Nick Heidfeld, Scott Speed; Michael Schumacher, Tonio Liuzzi; Christijan Albers, Tiago Monteiro; Takuma Sato, Yuji Ide; David Coulthard, Rubens Barrichello; Massa, Ralf Schumacher.

If that's wrong, blame the FIA; they ratified the system that the teams came up with in the first place. Peter Sauber, back to watch his team in its BMW guise, had the most logical suggestion:

"We should all change engines, then it would all be the same." Let's hope they get it all sorted before the television cameras start rolling this afternoon.

The three people to whom none of this mattered remotely were Fisichella, Button and Rosberg. The Italian should have been chuffed to get a slice of luck at last, after his hydraulic problems in Bahrain last week. But while he was away one of his childhood friends died. "I want to dedicate this pole to Pietro, " he said simply. Button looks in very good shape, and clearly has a fast car this weekend.

When everyone was running low fuel in the second session of qualifying, he was the first man to dip below 1m 34s and set the fastest time overall of 1m 33.527s.

"The team have done a fantastic job to get us on the front row of the grid, " the Englishman said. "Things were looking a lot less positive yesterday when we were really struggling to find a good set-up. A lot of hard work was done overnight and tomorrow looks promising. This is always a tough race, but I'm certainly looking forward to it." Then there was Rosberg.

If anyone looks the part, it's the young German (father Keke is Finnish, his mother German). And how he revelled in what is clearly a very potent package in the Williams FW28 and its underrated Cosworth V8. Perhaps even Jenson will be looking over his shoulder at the car he should have been driving this yearf On only his second grand prix outing, the reigning GP2 champion learned a tricky track quickly, but said:

"Getting there has not been easy at all, but I have been working really well with my engineers and the team generally. Looking ahead, I think we will be strong and maybe have a bit of an edge, enginewise." Spare a thought, too, for his more experienced teammate Mark Webber, who was a mere breath behind with 1m 34.672s to Rosberg's 1m 34.626s. One of them had to have at least one lap more fuel on board to avoid congestion during pit stops, and therefore a heavier car, and the odds favour that being the Australian.

"From what we did today, " Webber said, "I think we look in pretty good shape for the race." A lot of people would like nothing better than to see Frank Williams's independent team pulverise their opposition this afternoon, and score their first victory since Brazil 2004.

Williams and his ebullient engineering partner Patrick Head are racers fuelled by a passion which overrides many of the more trivial considerations that obsess so many of their rivals. It might also be timely. There is a story going round here in Sepang that Toyota are considering closing down their operation in Cologne, buying Williams and keeping Francis on as president in charge of running the whole thing, rather as Fiat once did with Enzo Ferrari. Even Toyota are said to be tiring of the huge investment, especially when they appear to be struggling again after their impressive progress in 2005.