Qualifying: Montoya beats Schuey to pole

The world champion was robbed of a chance to go for pole in the final minutes of the session when the promised light rain began to fall, ruining any chance of late improvements.

But it is doubtful that Schumacher would have been able to find enough to knock Montoya off the top anyway. His third run was his quickest, coming up 0.182 of a second off the Colombian's best - not a lot, but the Ferrari looked on the ragged edge to get even that close.

Surprisingly, both Williams-BMWs were the first cars to go out at the start of the session because the team's forecasters had told them to expect rain at the end of the hour.

Those first runs from Montoya and team-mate Ralf Schumacher were eclipsed by both Ferraris, but it was on his second that Juan Pablo really got it together.

"It was a pretty good lap," he said. "We thought it would rain so we wanted to put decent laps in at the start to make sure. But I could have gone quicker if you put the sector times together."

Schumacher Sr accepted the spitting rain with a shrug and still seemed confident to be starting second on the grid. Behind him will be his Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who spun on his third run. "To be honest, I was always playing catch-up after going off in practice, so the car was not fantastic" said the Brazilian.

Schuey Jr will start tomorrow's race fourth after failing to match his team-mate all day. Kimi Raikkonen is fifth on the grid for McLaren, with Giancarlo Fisichella alongside him in an excellent sixth. The Italian did a brilliant job to haul his Jordan on to the third row with four minutes to go - just before the light rain at the hairpin could take effect.

Nick Heidfeld was seventh fastest for Sauber, ahead of a disappointing David Coulthard. The Monaco GP winner spun at the final corner right at the end as he desperately tried to improve his time.

Local hero Jacques Villeneuve was ninth, but suffered a bizarre spin seven minutes from the end. As he accelerated from the pit lane exit line, his BAR spun round and came to a halt on the grass, leaving the former world champion with a short walk back to his pit.

That was not the case for Takuma Sato. The Jordan driver's Honda engine blew up in a big way just after the half-hour mark, spraying oil on to the track at Turns 3 and 4. Sato was left with a tricky run through the trees and bushes alongside the St Lawrence seaway to make his way back to the pits. He will start 15th tomorrow.

The Renaults were disappointingly off the pace, Jarno Trulli qualifying 10th and Jenson Button 13th. The Italian damaged his right rear tyre when he smacked the Turn 9 wall on one run.

The other Brits, Eddie Irvine and Allan McNish, will start 14th and 20th respectively.

Sunday's race will start at 1800 (BST)