Qualifying: Schuey's last-gasp pole

Yet again the Ferrari F2002 was a class above its rivals, with Schumacher and Barrichello visibly more at ease in the cockpit than many of the other drivers. Despite showing poorly in free practice, it was Williams once again that offered the nearest challenge, albeit almost a second off the pole time.

Ralf Schumacher briefly held provisional pole with his first flying lap, but the German had to battle to hold onto third once Ferrari had shown its hand. With the Michelin tyres fairing much better than had been expected, there was little to chose between its top three teams.

Juan Pablo Montoya - using the spare car after his race version developed a fault on his first lap - struggled to match his team-mate's pace through most of the session, but vaulted up the order with a final effort that secured fourth place and a second row starting slot.

Kimi Raikkonen, who out-qualified David Coulthard once again, was less than a tenth behind the Colombian in fifth. Jenson Button had a similar gap to the Finn, and was just hundredths ahead of Coulthard. Jarno Trulli also took to the spare after ending practice almost two seconds off Button's pace, and the Italian languished towards the tail of the order until he produced a much improved last-gap effort to take ninth.

Nick Heidfeld used his Ferrari qualifying engine to good effect to take eighth for Sauber. Team-mate Felipe Massa had been in the top 10 for long periods of the session, but was bumped down to 11th by the late improvements. Heinz-Harald Frentzen continued Arrows' strong form this weekend to qualify 10th.

It was a bad session for Allan McNish who had a big spin at the final turn, and the Scot will start 20th (for separate story, click here.). However, it was a far worse day for Minardi, who for the second time today brought out the red flags after suffering a front wing failure.

Alex Yoong, who had already taken to the spare after his race car developed a misfire, ran wide through the final turn. As his car straddled the kerb the front wing flew off sending the PS02 bouncing up into the air. Fortunately for the team he was within 107 percent of the pole time, because neither driver ventured back onto the track after the session was restarted.

For full qualifying results, click here.

STOP PRESS. Eddie Irvine has been sent to the back of the grid for fuel irregularities. For full story, click here.