Montoya on Top in First Qualifying - Australian GP

Juan Pablo Montoya immediately threw the 2004 World Championship battle into motion on Saturday when he beat World Champion Michael Schumacher to the fastest time in first qualifying for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.

World Champion Schumacher looked set to continue his impressive practice form at an overcast Albert Park and claim the fastest lap in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Melbourne.

But the German driver, who is chasing his fifth consecutive world championship this year, soon saw his fastest lap outpaced by Montoya, who set a time of one minute and 25.226 seconds to lead at the end of the session.

With track temperatures of 40 degrees, the top drivers were closely matched in the opening session of the season but it was the expected players who ended up at the top of the times when the session came to an end.

Schumacher's time put him 0.075 seconds behind Montoya in second place, with hi brother Ralf, in the second Williams-BMW, third just 0.319 seconds further back in the second Williams.

Kimi Raikkonen, who finished just two points behind Michael Schumacher in last year's world championship, put McLaren's disappointing pre-season testing times behind him to claim the fourth fastest time just 0.366 seconds back.

David Coulthard, in the second McLaren, finished fifth with Jenson Button, in the lead BAR-Honda, after impressive times in pre-season testing, finishing sixth. Rubens Barrichello finished eighth fastest in the second Ferrari.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (15) Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 28.368 51.188 1:25.226 2. (8) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 28.428 51.052 1:25.301 + 0.075 3. (12) R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 28.567 51.314 1:25.445 + 0.219 4. (2) Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 28.480 51.377 1:25.592 + 0.366 5. (3) Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 28.347 51.265 1:25.652 + 0.426 6. (4) Button BAR-Honda (M) 28.818 51.655 1:25.898 + 0.672 7. (14) Alonso Renault (M) 28.508 51.546 1:25.928 + 0.702 8. (1) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 28.943 51.843 1:25.992 + 0.766 9. (11) Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 28.860 51.915 1:26.232 + 1.006 10. (13) Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 28.752 51.690 1:26.286 + 1.060 11. (6) Sato BAR-Honda (M) 29.048 52.177 1:26.737 + 1.511 12. (16) Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 29.034 52.170 1:26.833 + 1.607 13. (10) Panis Toyota (M) 29.108 52.315 1:27.253 + 2.027 14. (17) Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 29.481 52.698 1:27.258 + 2.032 15. (5) Trulli Renault (M) 29.011 52.312 1:27.357 + 2.131 16. (9) Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 29.037 52.528 1:27.469 + 2.243 17. (7) da Matta Toyota (M) 29.542 53.045 1:28.274 + 3.048 18. (18) Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 29.503 53.653 1:29.156 + 3.930 19. (19) Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 30.321 54.419 1:30.912 + 5.686 20. (20) Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 31.489 55.814 1:32.606 + 7.380