Barrichello on Pole as Schumacher Spins in China

Rubens Barrichello claimed the first ever pole position in Shanghai on Saturday after his World Champion Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher spun out of qualifying for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.

Brazilian Barrichello, who won the last race in Italy, set a time of 1:34.012 to secure top spot for his Italian team and remained ahead as Schumacher prepared for the final lap of the session.

But the German driver made a mistake heading into the first corner on his flying lap and he will be forced to start from the opposite end of the grid to his teammate after deciding not to complete his lap.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who won in Belgium in August, will line up alongside Barrichello on the front row after setting the second fastest time in his McLaren-Mercedes, 0.166 seconds behind Barrichello.

Briton Jenson Button was just beaten to second place by Raikkonen's late lap and the third-placed BAR-Honda driver will be joined on the second row of the grid by Brazilian Sauber driver Felipe Massa in fourth.

Ralf Schumacher, returning from three months out through injury, will start fifth fastest after getting the better of his Williams-BMW teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who finished 11th fastest.

Spaniard Fernando Alonso finished sixth fastest in the lead Renault as Jacques Villeneuve finished down in 13th. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella finished seventh in the second Sauber with Olivier Panis eighth in his Toyota.

Takuma Sato, of BAR, was ninth fastest but will be demoted to the back end of the grid after changing an engine in Friday practice and Scot David Coulthard will start ninth for McLaren-Mercedes after completing the top ten.

Italian Gianmaria Bruni threw his lap away when he spun his Minardi at lap three after locking up heading into the corner and he pulled back into the pits without setting a timed lap.

With the top ten runners gone Alonso sat on top of the times with a lap of 1:34.917 with Coulthard second and Webber third despite a big rear-end slide during his flying lap.

Villeneuve was 0.467 seconds down on teammate Alonso in fourth as the two Renault drivers struggled to find the pace in their car and Button bettered Alonso's effort by more than half a second.

Ralf then narrowly bettered Alonso's effort but still left Button more than half a second in front. Massa then went close before Raikkonen and Barrichello bettered Button.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (17) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 24.733 52.510 1:34.012 2. (19) Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 24.909 52.858 1:34.178 + 0.166 3. (11) Button BAR-Honda (M) 24.907 52.983 1:34.295 + 0.283 4. (16) Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 24.697 53.029 1:34.759 + 0.747 5. (15) R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 25.058 53.306 1:34.891 + 0.879 6. (7) Alonso Renault (M) 25.085 53.182 1:34.917 + 0.905 7. (18) Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 24.985 53.230 1:34.951 + 0.939 8. (12) Panis Toyota (M) 25.108 53.276 1:34.975 + 0.963 9. (13) Sato BAR-Honda (M) 24.904 53.135 1:34.993 + 0.981 10. (9) Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 24.932 53.378 1:35.029 + 1.017 11. (14) Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 25.036 53.443 1:35.245 + 1.233 12. (10) Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 24.898 53.371 1:35.286 + 1.274 13. (8) Villeneuve Renault (M) 25.220 53.645 1:35.384 + 1.372 14. (5) Zonta Toyota (M) 25.154 53.311 1:35.410 + 1.398 15. (6) Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 25.278 54.122 1:36.507 + 2.495 16. (4) Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 25.336 54.134 1:36.535 + 2.523 17. (2) Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 25.184 54.167 1:37.140 + 3.128 18. (1) Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 26.166 56.217 1:40.240 + 6.228 19. (3) Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) No Time 20. (20) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) No Time All timing unofficial