Montoya: Pole Position a Big Surprise

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya cemented his reputation as the new king of qualifying on Saturday with a fourth successive pole position ahead of the British Grand Prix, but claimed he was very surprised by the result.

The Williams driver blasted out a dramatic lap in the dying seconds at an overcast Silverstone, running fastest in the last two sectors to oust Ferrari's Brazilian Rubens Barrichello by 0.034 of a second. It was Montoya's fifth pole of the season and the eighth of his 27-race Formula One career.

"It was a big surprise to be honest," said Montoya, who must now keep his fingers crossed for a first win of the season after three successive retirements. "I really was expecting to get on the second row...I didn't have a clue about the balance of the car or anything."

"We did a lot of changes with the car. We didn't get much running with the car, so we were going backwards and forwards and I only got a run this morning, so through qualifying we were basically balancing the car.

"Then right at the end we seemed to get it. The balance was good but to be honest, I don't know where it came from. I don't mind."

Montoya's time of 1:18.998 was comfortably inside the 2001 pole set by Ferrari's World Champion Michael Schumacher - who has been on pole only three times this year - of 1:20.447.

Schumacher, who leads younger brother Ralf in the world title race by 46 points and will be chasing his seventh victory in ten Grands Prix on Sunday, was pushed off the front row for the fourth time in five races.

The German, who broke his leg in a crash at Silverstone in 1999, will start on Sunday alongside Ralf, Montoya's teammate.