Ralf Fastest in First Qualifying - Bahrain GP

Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen battled for supremacy in Saturday's first qualifying for the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix as World Champion Michael Schumacher finished seven tenths of a second off the pace.

Colombian Montoya, of Williams-BMW, set a time of 1:30.247 to lead the way but late runs from Finnish McLaren-Mercedes driver Raikkonen and Montoya's team-mate Schumacher dropped him down to third.

German Ralf Schumacher, who was the penultimate car out on track, finished top with a time of 1:29.968 to put him 0.279 seconds clear of Raikkonen and 0.385 ahead of Montoya. Schumacher was 0.783 seconds down in fourth.

French Toyota driver Olivier Panis finished fifth with Renault pairing Spaniard Fernando Alonso and Italian Jarno Trulli sixth and seventh and BAR-Honda pairing Briton Jenson Button and Japan's Takuma Sato eighth and ninth.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella completed the top ten in his Sauber while the second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello was all the way down in 11th place, 1.315 seconds off the lead pace.

Schumacher was the first man out in reward for winning the last race in Malaysia as the session began with air temperatures of 32 degrees Celsius and track temperatures of up to 51 degrees Celsius.

His time of 1:30.751 was three tenths of a second slower than his personal best and more than one second slower than the current fastest time around the circuit set by Button in Saturday practice.

Montoya, second in Malaysia, was next up and went faster but could still not break into the one minute 29s. Button, third out, set a time of 1:31.131, which was bettered by the two Renaults. But Montoya, whose best qualifying result so far this season was third in Australia, remained untouchable until his team-mate Ralf Schumacher benefited from running late in the session to up the pace.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:29.968 2. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:30.247 + 0.279 3. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:30.353 + 0.385 4. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:30.751 + 0.783 5. Panis Toyota (M) 1:31.001 + 1.033 6. Alonso Renault (M) 1:31.040 + 1.072 7. Trulli Renault (M) 1:31.103 + 1.135 8. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:31.131 + 1.163 9. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:31.135 + 1.167 10. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:31.203 + 1.235 11. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:31.283 + 1.315 12. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:31.329 + 1.361 13. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:31.364 + 1.396 14. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:31.868 + 1.900 15. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:31.945 + 1.977 16. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:32.152 + 2.184 17. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:32.640 + 2.672 18. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:33.598 + 3.630 19. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:34.879 + 4.911 20. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:35.632 + 5.664 All timing unofficial