Ralf Fastest in First Qualifying - Monaco GP

World Champion Michael Schumacher finished 14th fastest for Ferrari in first qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday as his brother Ralf Schumacher set the fastest time in his Williams-BMW.

Ferrari's Schumacher was first out but he bumped across the kerbs at the chicane and ended up with a time of 1:15.927, which was almost two seconds slower than the fastest lap he set in the morning practice session.

He finished 1.444 seconds slower than Ralf, who claimed the top spot from Finn Kimi Raikkonen, of McLaren-Mercedes, by 0.176 seconds with Raikkonen's Scottish teammate David Coulthard 0.245 seconds slower in third.

Briton Jenson Button, expected to be a contender this weekend, finished fourth fastest in his BAR-Honda while Giancarlo Fisichella posted a surprise fifth fastest time in his Sauber.

Takuma Sato finished seventh in the second BAR to split Renault pair Fernando Alonso, of Spain, in sixth and Italian Jarno Trulli in eighth with Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya ninth for Williams-BMW.

Former Monaco winner Olivier Panis completed the top ten runners as he pushed Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello down to 11th place to leave observers pondering what tactics each team is employing for the race.

Barrichello had immediately bettered Schumacher's time at the start of the session but Trulli then put his Renault on top before Alonso moved ahead. Sato could not continue the trend and slotted into second.

Ralf Schumacher was the next man to move to the top of the times when he beat Alonso by one third of a second and Fisichella briefly slotted into second before Button took his place.

Brazilian Felipe Massa made several mistakes on his lap but he still managed to better Schumacher's time by more than half a second to slot into eighth place in his Sauber with nine of the 11 runners gone.

Coulthard then moved into second before his teammate Raikkonen claimed the spot to put Michael Schumacher out of the top ten runners. Australian Mark Webber then became the first driver not to beat the German's time.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (6) R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 19.619 56.637 1:14.483 2. (11) Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 19.767 56.607 1:14.659 + 0.176 3. (10) Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 19.717 56.750 1:14.728 + 0.245 4. (8) Button BAR-Honda (M) 19.740 56.981 1:14.799 + 0.316 5. (7) Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 19.395 56.610 1:14.814 + 0.331 6. (4) Alonso Renault (M) 19.801 56.785 1:14.816 + 0.333 7. (5) Sato BAR-Honda (M) 19.631 56.955 1:14.931 + 0.448 8. (3) Trulli Renault (M) 19.859 57.059 1:14.993 + 0.510 9. (15) Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 19.682 56.978 1:15.029 + 0.546 10. (17) Panis Toyota (M) 19.736 57.054 1:15.125 + 0.642 11. (2) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 19.747 57.067 1:15.329 + 0.846 12. (9) Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 19.706 57.275 1:15.436 + 0.953 13. (13) da Matta Toyota (M) 19.872 57.459 1:15.738 + 1.255 14. (1) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 19.893 57.541 1:15.927 + 1.444 15. (12) Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 20.178 57.951 1:16.161 + 1.678 16. (16) Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 20.245 58.127 1:16.379 + 1.896 17. (18) Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 20.284 58.563 1:16.914 + 2.431 18. (14) Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 20.498 59.029 1:17.674 + 3.191 19. (20) Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 21.059 61.055 1:20.468 + 5.985 20. (19) Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 21.102 61.719 1:20.740 + 6.257 All timing unofficial