Raikkonen snatches first season pole

Raikkonen, 26, repeated his pole of last year in 1:14.070 to delight his team and engine manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, for whom this is their home race.

Raikkonen went off into the gravel as he tried to better his time in the dying seconds of the session, but had already done enough to hold on to his place.

Home hero Michael Schumacher was second, just over one tenth of a second slower than Raikkonen, in his Ferrari, with his teammate Felipe Massa in third.

Jenson Button avenged the memories of his terrible French Grand Prix by qualifying fourth for Honda, with Giancarlo Fisichella the top Renault in fifth and Rubens Barrichello next up in the second Honda.

There was no birthday present for world champion Fernando Alonso, who will face a tough race after qualifying his Renault only seventh - equalling his worst place of the season - on the day he turned 25.

Ralf Schumacher, who almost hit Button when he was prematurely waved out of the pits, was eighth for Toyota, with Pedro de la Rosa ninth for McLaren and David Coulthard tenth for Red Bull.

Toyota driver Schumacher did hit de la Rosa, however, while trying to pass the Spaniard at the hairpin. The incident damaged both cars, although the drivers were able to continue running after pitting.

A dramatic middle part saw Michael Schumacher become the only man to dip under the one minute 14 second barrier all weekend.

Alonso faced the prospect of not qualifying in the top ten for the first time all season, hovering around tenth place right until the end, before a late lap put him safely through.

Both Williams' of Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg, both BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld and Jacques Villeneuve, Toyota's Jarno Trulli and practice pace-setting Red Bull driver Christian Klien were eliminated.

The first 15-minute session was red-flagged following a heavy accident for American Scott Speed.

Speed ran over the kerbs on the exit of turn one and spun his Toro Rosso into the wall on halfway down the next straight, meaning he will start last on the grid after failing to set a time.

Also failing to make the second part of qualifying were Speed's teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi, the Midlands of Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro, and Japanese pair Takuma Sato and Sakon Yamamoto in the Super Aguris.