Qualifying: Schumachers one-two on grid

Michael will start his Ferrari from the number one slot for the 35th time in his career - only one behind Ayrton Senna's final career tally - as he attempts to extend his record of wins from the pole to seven on the trot in tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix.

Schumacher senior's time of 1m13.780s, set with two-thirds of the hour-long session complete, was just 0.310s quicker than his younger sibling's flying lap. The German snatched pole for the first time with a 1m14.034s lap just 20 minutes into the session - a time which wasn't beaten until he chose to do it himself - but failed to better his final mark despite a last-gasp run with just minutes of qualifying to go.

Despite lap times at the first two Grands Prix tumbling by as much as four seconds, due to the tyre war between Bridgestone and Michelin, the final pole time at Interlagos was only 0.330s quicker than Mika Hakkinen's 2000 benchmark.

In the end, that reduced gap was down to a mixture of resurfacing in some parts of the track and deterioration of the surface in others, plus the tyre companies playing it safe with compounds due to the abrasive nature of the surface, the bumps and the track's several high-speed corners - 'normal' service should resume in Imola in a fortnight.

Mika Hakkinen lines up best of the McLarens in third, 0.043s quicker than the man many expected to take the pole, Williams-BMW's Juan Pablo Montoya. The Colombian had been quickest in the fourth and final free practice session, but was over-exuberant on his first flying lap early in the timed hour. The Williams went wide at the high-speed Mergulho corner and planted itself into the barriers after a wild ride over the gravel.

Minutes later, after losing his way back to the pits, then jogging nearly a mile still kitted-out in racesuit and helmet through 28 degree C temperatures, Montoya was in the spare and almost - almost - taking up where he'd left off. Very impressive stuff from the track debutant.

David Coulthard in fifth and local deity Rubens Barrichello in a disappointing sixth (especially for the packed stands of Sao Paulo natives there to cheer him on) made it a Ferrari/Williams/McLaren lock-out of the first three rows. But that's still a step forward from the Ferrari/McLaren lock-out of the first two rows we've become accustomed to.

Jarno Trulli's Jordan-Honda was 'best of the rest' in seventh, ahead of team mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Both had had their V10s changed in the gap since the free practice sessions, but neither looked like challenging the big three.

Sauber continues to impress, with Nick Heidfeld and Kimi Raikkonen - another Interlagos virgin - grabbing ninth and 10th respectively in their Ferrari-powered machines. Team insiders say that Sauber is one of the few teams which has unlocked the secret of getting the front Bridgestones to work straight from the off.

Speaking of Bridgestone, it was 8-2 in favour of the Japanese rubber in terms of top 10 slots, with only the Michelin-shod Williams duo breaking its monopoly of the top slots.

BAR-Honda took the sixth row, with Olivier Panis edging out Jacques Villeneuve for the 11th slot. Panis spun early in the session, but still looked far more composed than an extremely edgy Villeneuve on his fliers.

Continuing the symmetry, Eddie Irvine and Luciano Burti took 13th and 14th for Jaguar, which the team regards as being a fair indication of where they lie at present.

Jean Alesi broke the two-by-two effect with 15th for Prost, ahead of the Arrows-AMTs of local driver Enrique Bernoldi and the star of Malaysia Jos Verstappen, with Giancarlo Fisichella the less underachieving of the Benetton-Renaults in 18th.

Fighting over the scraps, Fernando Alonso took 19th for Minardi, ahead of Jenson Button in the second Benetton and two South American also-rans (on this occasion at least), the Prost of Gaston Mazzacane and the Minardi of Tarso Marques.

For full results from qualifying, click here.