Ralf Leads All-Williams Front Row in Canada

Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya secured an all-Williams front row for the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Saturday as the German claimed his second successive pole position.

Schumacher added to his pole in Monaco to claim the third of his career with a lap time of 1:15.529 with Montoya adding to the team's joy by claiming second place in the grid-deciding session. Both ran early in the session after struggling in the rain on Friday, but their times proved untouchable. Montoya secured second spot despite being almost four-tenths of a second adrift of his teammate.

World Champion Michael Schumacher will start from third for Ferrari after an early error put paid to his hopes of landing pole position with Renault's Spaniard Fernando Alonso joining him on the second row of the grid.

Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello, the last man on the track after shining in the wet on Friday, was fifth fastest and Jaguar driver Mark Webber set the sixth best time of the session. Toyota duo Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta will start from seventh and ninth respectively, with Renault's Jarno Trulli sandwiched in between in eighth. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, of Sauber, completes the top ten.

McLaren's David Coulthard could only qualify 11th as he continued to struggle with the one-lap qualifying system while his teammate Kimi Raikkonen, the Championship leader, abandoned his run after a mistake at the second corner.

Jacques Villeneuve, the home favourite, took to the track first after finishing bottom of the times on Friday following a spin in the rain and he set a benchmark time of 1:17.347. Renault's Jarno Trulli, in the spare car following a crash in the pre-qualifying warm-up took top spot by more than sixth tenths before his fellow Italian Giancarlo Fisichella ended more than a second slower for Jordan.

Brazilians Antonio Pizzonia, of Jaguar, and Toyota's Cristiano da Matta then both bettered Villeneuve's time as the latter took second behind Trulli by just a tenth of a second.

Ralf Schumacher, who had struggled in the wet on Friday, took top spot by more than a second for Williams, and Briton Jenson Button and Justin Wilson were unable to make an impression as they both qualified slower than Fisichella.

Montoya had a minor moment during his run but slotted into second place, three-tenths down on teammate Schumacher, before Minardi's Jos Verstappen produced an impressive performance to go quicker than both Fisichella and Button and ensure he is not on the back row of the grid.

Olivier Panis, the Toyota driver who has struggled for performance in recent races, set the third best time behind the Williams pair. But Jaguar's Mark Webber continued to prove his qualifying potential as he bumped Panis down a place after taking third himself, six-tenths down on the Williams of Schumacher.

McLaren driver David Coulthard's miserable run of form in the new one-lap qualifying system continued with another below-par performance as he finished 1.495 seconds off the pace in seventh place behind da Matta.

Sauber's Heinz-Harald Frentzen completed a tidy lap to take Coulthard's seventh place and McLaren's hopes suffered a further blow when Raikkonen abandoned his lap after going off the track at the second corner.

Alonso threatened to take top spot after going quickest through the first sector but took third place behind the Williams duo, half-a-second adrift. Jordan driver Ralph Firman will start from the back row of the grid after making a huge mistake at the opening corner. The Englishman completed his run 3.163 seconds down on Ralf Schumacher.

Nick Heidfeld could not match his exploits on Friday, when he qualified third, and the Sauber driver set the ninth best time behind Coulthard, more than one-and-a-half seconds down on the provisional pole time.

Ferrari duo Michael Schumacher and Barrichello were unable to better the times of the Williams pair despite running last on the track.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (6) R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 21.458 45.702 1:15.529 2. (9) Montoya Williams BMW (M) 21.687 45.984 1:15.923 + 0.394 3. (19) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 21.610 46.016 1:16.047 + 0.518 4. (16) Alonso Renault (M) 21.301 45.767 1:16.048 + 0.519 5. (20) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 21.797 46.072 1:16.143 + 0.614 6. (12) Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 21.375 45.759 1:16.182 + 0.653 7. (11) Panis Toyota (M) 21.626 46.238 1:16.598 + 1.069 8. (2) Trulli Renault (M) 21.625 46.390 1:16.718 + 1.189 9. (5) da Matta Toyota (M) 21.669 46.281 1:16.826 + 1.297 10. (14) Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 21.581 46.257 1:16.939 + 1.410 11. (13) Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 21.713 46.308 1:17.024 + 1.495 12. (18) Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 21.618 46.438 1:17.086 + 1.557 13. (4) Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) 22.080 46.685 1:17.337 + 1.808 14. (1) Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 21.692 46.469 1:17.347 + 1.818 15. (10) Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 22.210 47.301 1:18.014 + 2.485 16. (3) Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 22.008 47.507 1:18.036 + 2.507 17. (7) Button BAR Honda (B) 21.783 46.795 1:18.205 + 2.676 18. (8) Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) 22.189 47.557 1:18.560 + 3.031 19. (17) Firman Jordan Ford (B) 22.424 47.577 1:18.692 + 3.163 20. (15) Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) - - No Time Pos ----- Sector 1 ----- ----- Sector 2 ----- ----- Sector 3 ----- 1. Alonso 21.301 R.Schumacher 24.244 R.Schumacher 29.827 2. Webber 21.375 Barrichello 24.275 Montoya 29.939 3. R.Schumacher 21.458 Montoya 24.297 M.Schumacher 30.031 4. Frentzen 21.581 Webber 24.384 Barrichello 30.071 5. M.Schumacher 21.610 M.Schumacher 24.406 Alonso 30.281 6. Heidfeld 21.618 Alonso 24.466 Trulli 30.328 7. Trulli 21.625 Coulthard 24.595 Panis 30.360 8. Panis 21.626 Pizzonia 24.605 Webber 30.423 9. da Matta 21.669 Panis 24.612 Fisichella 30.529 10. Montoya 21.687 da Matta 24.612 da Matta 30.545 11. Villeneuve 21.692 Frentzen 24.676 Heidfeld 30.648 12. Coulthard 21.713 Trulli 24.765 Pizzonia 30.652 13. Button 21.783 Villeneuve 24.777 Frentzen 30.682 14. Barrichello 21.797 Heidfeld 24.820 Verstappen 30.713 15. Fisichella 22.008 Button 25.012 Coulthard 30.716 16. Pizzonia 22.080 Verstappen 25.091 Villeneuve 30.878 17. Wilson 22.189 Firman 25.153 Wilson 31.003 18. Verstappen 22.210 Wilson 25.368 Firman 31.115 19. Firman 22.424 Fisichella 25.499 Button 31.410 Top Speed: 334.4 (Montoya, Williams-BMW) All timing unofficial