Ferrari Duo Dominate First Qualifying - San Marino

World Champion Michael Schumacher delighted his Ferrari team's home fans with a smooth performance in Friday qualifying to blow away the cobwebs, setting the fastest time ahead of Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix.

Ferrari have yet to record a victory this season and have decided to continue with their F2002 car from last year after delaying the introduction of their new machine. But Schumacher, in front of a sea of red at the track closest to his Italian team's Maranello base, put the pressure of a tough opening three races behind him to raise the hopes of a home success this weekend.

The German set a time of 1:20.628 to beat his teammate Rubens Barrichello, second with a time 0.454 seconds slower, as the pair proved what Schumacher has said all season - that Ferrari are still on the pace. The Williams pair of Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya finished third and fourth, but normal service appeared to have resumed as the younger Schumacher was more than half a second slower than his Ferrari-driving brother.

Australian Mark Webber was fifth fastest for Jaguar as the Milton Keynes team continued to show impressive pace, while the BAR-Honda cars of Briton Jenson Button and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve were sixth and seventh. McLaren, who won the first two races of the season in Australia and Malaysia, found themselves further down the order than they would have liked as Finn Kimi Raikkonen and Scot David Coulthard finished eighth and ninth.

German Heinz-Harald Frentzen, of Sauber, completed the top ten while Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, who was awarded his Brazilian Grand Prix winner's trophy earlier in the day, finished just outside in 11th. Championship leader Raikkonen, who went out first, set the benchmark for his rivals with a time of 1:22.147 in his McLaren-Mercedes and his teammate Coulthard finished his lap almost two tenths of a second behind.

Spaniard Fernando Alonso was third on track in his Renault but he failed to beat either McLaren and was beaten by the next man out, Brazilian Grand Prix winner Giancarlo Fisichella. The Italian, in his Jordan-Ford, looked set to beat Raikkonen's time but lost time in the latter part of his lap when he locked his breaks and ran wide. Jarno Trulli, next in the second Renault, failed to beat any of the times.

Williams driver Montoya finally beat Raikkonen's time with a lap of 1:21.490 but he soon lost his place at the top of the timesheets to Ferrari driver Barrichello, who set a time four tenths of a second quicker. World Champion Schumacher was next and he remained unruffled by the pressure of performing in front of his home fans with a clean and fast lap to beat Barrichello's time with a lap of 1:20.628.

Ralf Schumacher was next on track and, although he failed to beat either of the Ferraris, he moved up to third with a time that beat his teammate Montoya by three tenths of a second. Canadian Villeneuve laid down the gauntlet for his teammate Button with a lap of 1:21.926 to move into fifth place, but the Briton was up to the challenge and bumped him down with a time three hundredths of a second faster.

That did not last long, however, as Webber, who was fortunate to escape injury when he crashed out of the Brazilian Grand Prix 12 days ago, shot up to fifth fastest in the Jaguar. Webber's teammate, Formula One rookie Antonio Pizzonia could only finish in 15th place after being forced to drive the spare car after an electrical problem.

The Minardi pair finished at the bottom of the pile again with Briton Justin Wilson 20th two tenths of a second slower than 19th-placed teammate Dutchman Jos Verstappen.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (8) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 23.255 49.953 1:20.628 2. (7) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 23.366 50.145 1:21.082 + 0.454 3. (9) R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 23.238 50.075 1:21.193 + 0.565 4. (6) Montoya Williams BMW (M) 23.332 50.632 1:21.490 + 0.862 5. (14) Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 23.539 50.729 1:21.669 + 1.041 6. (12) Button BAR Honda (B) 23.287 50.718 1:21.891 + 1.263 7. (11) Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 23.286 50.529 1:21.926 + 1.298 8. (1) Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 23.631 51.039 1:22.147 + 1.519 9. (2) Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 23.791 51.353 1:22.326 + 1.698 10. (10) Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 23.481 51.012 1:22.531 + 1.903 11. (4) Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 23.638 51.001 1:22.724 + 2.096 12. (20) Panis Toyota (M) 23.830 51.379 1:22.765 + 2.137 13. (3) Alonso Renault (M) 23.865 51.333 1:22.809 + 2.181 14. (13) Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 23.818 51.425 1:22.911 + 2.283 15. (18) Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) 23.904 51.653 1:22.919 + 2.291 16. (5) Trulli Renault (M) 24.101 51.728 1:23.100 + 2.472 17. (16) Firman Jordan Ford (B) 24.055 51.806 1:24.360 + 3.732 18. (15) da Matta Toyota (M) 25.139 53.218 1:24.854 + 4.226 19. (17) Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 24.630 52.652 1:24.990 + 4.362 20. (19) Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) 24.584 52.932 1:25.195 + 4.567 Pos ----- Sector 1 ----- ----- Sector 2 ----- ----- Sector 3 ----- 1. R.Schumacher 23.238 M.Schumacher 26.698 M.Schumacher 30.675 2. M.Schumacher 23.255 Barrichello 26.779 Montoya 30.858 3. Villeneuve 23.286 R.Schumacher 26.837 Barrichello 30.937 4. Button 23.287 Webber 27.190 Webber 30.940 5. Montoya 23.332 Villeneuve 27.243 Coulthard 30.973 6. Barrichello 23.366 Montoya 27.300 Raikkonen 31.108 7. Frentzen 23.481 Fisichella 27.363 R.Schumacher 31.118 8. Webber 23.539 Raikkonen 27.408 Button 31.173 9. Raikkonen 23.631 Button 27.431 Pizzonia 31.266 10. Fisichella 23.638 Alonso 27.468 Trulli 31.372 11. Coulthard 23.791 Frentzen 27.531 Panis 31.386 12. Heidfeld 23.818 Panis 27.549 Villeneuve 31.397 13. Panis 23.830 Coulthard 27.562 Alonso 31.476 14. Alonso 23.865 Heidfeld 27.607 Heidfeld 31.486 15. Pizzonia 23.904 Trulli 27.627 Frentzen 31.519 16. Firman 24.055 Pizzonia 27.749 da Matta 31.636 17. Trulli 24.101 Firman 27.751 Fisichella 31.723 18. Wilson 24.584 Verstappen 28.022 Wilson 32.263 19. Verstappen 24.630 da Matta 28.079 Verstappen 32.338 20. da Matta 25.139 Wilson 28.348 Firman 32.554 Top Speed: 308.5 (Coulthard, McLaren-Mercedes) All Timing Unofficial