Qual: Schumacher takes pole

Following Sato's sublime lap in pre-qualifying, Schumacher knew he had to drive out if his skin to secure the top spot from the Japanese driver and he did just that to claim his fifth pole of the season, and the 60th of his career. After his humiliating retirement from the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend the Ferrari driver was glad to be back at the top with his confidence restored.

"It's good to get back to racing business straightaway rather than testing, to get back into the rhythm and forget what has happened," he said. "Honestly, by Sunday night after a couple of drinks with some of my driver mates, it was pretty easy going."

Eighth-man out Jarno Trulli (Renault) threw down the gauntlet with what was seen as a mediocre 1m29.135s, only as the session unfolded and his time remained unbeaten did it seem possible that the Italian could be on the way to his second successive pole position.

But we should know by now never to underestimate the mighty Schumacher who pulled out a 1m28.351s, over seven tenths quicker than Trulli and unmatched even by a fired-up Sato. The Japanese driver was nevertheless delighted with his front-row position having missed out on the slot after a mistake in Monaco qualifying last weekend.

"Luckily track conditions were very similar as they were in first qualifying. I'm so delighted to be here, and I'm totally happy today with my lap," he said. "To be honest, being high up on the grid with Jenson has been great. We achieved what we wanted today, and I'm looking forward to going side-by-side tomorrow against really good competitors."

Trulli then will line up third on the grid, not a bad place to be at the start of a Grand Prix in a Renault that rockets off the line when the lights go out. And despite losing his voice, he was able to provide a few happy noises.

"It's difficult to express my happiness today because I've lost my voice. I couldn't believe that I'm third, so I have to thank my mechanics for doing a great job. We've had some problems, but my car was okay when it mattered in qualifying."

Kimi Raikkonen did a great job for the ailing McLaren team to take fourth on the grid, his best result of the season. Team-mate David Coulthard looked certain to join the Finn near the front, but the Scot stopped out on track following his pre-qualifying run with an engine problem. He will use the T-car's engine in Sunday's race, which is viewed the same as an engine change and incurs the same back-of-the-grid penalty.

"My engineers made some good steps with the car and reduced some of the oversteer I experienced in the morning," said Coulthard. "The engine obviously let go on my in-lap, so we're in a situation of putting the engine from the T-car in the race car and we'll start from the back."

Alongside Raikkonen will be BAR's Jenson Button, who was three tenths off his team-mate despite a clean lap. According to Sato's race engineer, Jock Clear, the Briton complained of a strong wind during his flying lap that was enough to upset the balance of the 005.

"It is quite windy and both drivers felt that in the corners, which does affect the cars. Jenson said the grip level just wasn't what he thought it would be," said Clear.

Button added: "I thought we were easily going to be on the front row, the weekend has been very strong all through practice, but I just had really low grip in qualifying, which was really disappointing. I thought we would have been up there. It was strange, it was all the way around the lap, I had low grip."

The second Renault of Fernando Alonso was just two tenths of a second off his team-mate, but it was enough to knock him down to sixth place on the grid alongside a struggling Rubens Barrichello who has been unable to fulfill the potential of the F2004 all weekend.

Williams duo Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher were a disappointing eighth and ninth despite Ralf in particular threatening to claim the top spot in pre-qual. It is thought that the German has a problem on his car and it certainly seemed the case as he gingerly guided the FW26 around the German circuit.

Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta bettered their expectations by setting the 10th and 11th quickest times in the improved Toyota in front of Jaguar's Mark Webber and Christian Klien. The latter will be promoted one spot, as will 14th-placed Nick Heidfeld, after Webber received a one-second penalty following his yellow flag-infringement in Friday's second practice. The Australian drops to 14th.

Jordan's Giorgio Pantano (15th) was unable to match his team-mate Heidfeld, crossing the line three tenths slower than the German and earning a shake of the head from team boss Eddie Jordan. But the Italian is at least in front of the Sauber of Felipe Massa, who, despite a lock-up at the Dunlop hairpin, was mysteriously slow in the C23.

Unsurprisingly the two Minardis of Gianmaria Bruni and Zsolt Baumgartner were the slowest on the grid, but for once they won't be at the back of the grid. That row has been reserved for McLaren's Coulthard and Sauber's second driver Giancarlo Fisichella, who opted not to do a qualifying lap instead of losing 10 grid positions, a penalty he earned following an engine change on Friday.