Montoya Grabs Third Season Pole at Monza

Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya spoiled what was left of the Monza party by claiming an impressive pole position for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix after setting a time which Ferrari's Michael Schumacher just could not beat.

Colombian Montoya had predicted good things from both him and his team in this weekend's race, and after shaving another two tenths of a second off the time Schumacher could not catch, he proved his pace is sensational as he claimed his second pole in succession.

In sombre mood after the American terrorist tragedies, Schumacher struggled to get the best out of his Ferrari, and after exchanging times with Montoya during the early part of the session Schumacher faded and it was Rubens Barrichello who finished as the fastest Ferrari.

It is the first time that Barrichello has out-qualified Schumacher this season, but he could do nothing to catch Montoya in the dominant Williams, as Schumacher claimed third to take a place alongside his Williams-driving brother Ralf on the second row.

The session started, as usual, with a Minardi out on track, but the team suffered disaster almost immediately when both cars came to a halt out on the circuit. Both Fernando Alonso and debutant Alex Yoong were forced to run back to the pits after suffering gearbox troubles with both the Minardi cars, neither of which could make it out in the earlier practice sessions.

Alonso was given the spare car first to allow him to get a lap time in the bag before letting Yoong into the car for the mid part of the session. Luciano Burti's replacement at Prost, Czech Tomas Enge, was out early in his debut qualifying session and put his car on pole as he beat Alonso's time.

But the real front runners came out with 25 minutes gone, and it was Ralf Schumacher who moved up to the top of the times with the fastest lap of the weekend. But almost immediately his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya scorched around the circuit to chop half a second off Schumacher's time and take provisional pole position.

And with half of the session gone it was Michael Schumacher's Ferrari which clocked the top time with a time just three hundredths of a second faster than Montoya. Enge's session hit problems when the Acer-badged Ferrari engine in his car burst into flames as he headed into the first chicane and he was forced to park on the escape road.

With 22 minutes to go, Montoya picked up the pace to beat Schumacher's time by a quarter of a second as he showed Williams' hand and moved back to the front of the field. But that also had an effect on the other end of the field as Minardi debutant Yoong's time was knocked over the 107 percent bracket forcing the team, already down to one car, to send him out again to get him in the race.

Giancarlo Fisichella stopped out on the circuit and was forced to run back to the pits in order to claim the spare car and make an attempt to move into the top ten. Towards the end of the session, Enge coasted to a halt for the second time in the session with more problems in his Prost, then, more dramatically Mika Hakkinen crashed out with four minutes of the session remaining.

Hakkinen escaped unhurt after going wide over the kerbs at the second Lesmo and correcting his car as it snapped right only to direct it left and head-on into the barriers, stopping the session. It was re-started 13 minutes later, but there was little anyone could do to improve and it was Williams and Ferrari left up front.

The third row of the grid will be filled by the Jordan of Jarno Trulli, who was almost a second off the pace of the lead Williams, with the first McLaren of David Coulthard lining up alongside. Hakkinen, the two Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Hakkinen's 2002 McLaren replacement Kimi Raikkonen, and the Jaguar of Pedro de la Rosa filled out the top ten

Pos Driver Team Times 1. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:22.216 253.659 km/h 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:22.528 + 0.312 3. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:22.624 + 0.408 4. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:22.841 + 0.625 5. Trulli Jordan Honda (B) 1:23.126 + 0.910 6. Coulthard Mclaren Mercedes (B) 1:23.148 + 0.932 7. Hakkinen Mclaren Mercedes (B) 1:23.394 + 1.178 8. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:23.417 + 1.201 9. Raikkonen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:23.595 + 1.379 10. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:23.693 + 1.477 11. Button Benetton Renault (M) 1:23.892 + 1.676 12. Frentzen Prost Acer (M) 1:23.943 + 1.727 13. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:24.031 + 1.815 14. Fisichella Benetton Renault (M) 1:24.090 + 1.874 15. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:24.164 + 1.948 16. Alesi Jordan Honda (B) 1:24.198 + 1.982 17. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:24.677 + 2.461 18. Bernoldi Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:25.444 + 3.228 19. Verstappen Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:25.511 + 3.295 20. Enge Prost Acer (M) 1:26.039 + 3.823 21. Alonso Minardi European (M) 1:26.218 + 4.002 22. Yoong Minardi European (M) 1:27.463 + 5.247 All Timing Unofficial