Ralf Leads All-Williams Front Row in France

German Ralf Schumacher claimed his third pole position in four races as he set an unbeatable time early in the qualifying session for the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.

Schumacher, fourth out on track after he ran on a wet circuit on Friday, set a time of 1:15.019 to claim his second pole at the French circuit. Only teammate Juan Pablo Montoya got close as he finished in second place one tenth of a second down, with World Champion Michael Schumacher taking third place on the grid for Ferrari.

McLaren-Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen, of Finland, produced a solid run for fourth as he outqualified teammate David Coulthard. Coulthard was fifth and will be joined on the third row of the grid by Renault's Jarno Trulli, with the Italian's teammate Fernando Alonso one place further back in seventh.

Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello, of Brazil, finished eighth, Australian Mark Webber claimed ninth on the grid for Jaguar with Toyota driver Olivier Panis qualifying in 10th position for his home race.

Briton Justin Wilson, running first after his Minardi was found to be underweight after Friday qualifying session, completed his run in a time of 1:19.619.

BAR-Honda's Jenson Button, the next man up, was more than two-and-a-half seconds quicker than his compatriot before the major players entered the fray following Friday's 'upside-down' times.

Renault's Alonso moved to the top of the times with a time almost a second ahead of Button, only for Ralf Schumacher to immediately lower the best time by a further 1.068 seconds. Raikkonen, who started the last race from pole, was unable to challenge Schumacher's lead time and slotted into second place, just over half-a-second down.

Trulli bettered teammate Alonso by little more than a tenth of a second to slot into third, but he was nudged down a place when Montoya finished only a tenth adrift of teammate Ralf. Coulthard, whose qualifying performances have been criticised by McLaren, took fourth place after his run - although once again he finished behind teammate Raikkonen.

With Michelin runners dominating the timesheets, Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella slotted in to eighth place ahead of only Wilson. Fellow Bridgestone runner Michael Schumacher had threatened to snatch top spot from his brother after going quicker in the first sector, but he had to settle for third place, 0.461 seconds adrift.

Schumacher's teammate Barrichello then finished a disappointing 1.147 seconds off the pace to slot in behind Alonso in eighth place. Toyota's Cristiano da Matta slotted in behind Barrichello and Sauber's Heinz-Harald Frentzen also struggled to make an impression as he was left 2.543 seconds down on Ralf Schumacher.

Webber got within 1.289 seconds of the pole time to take ninth spot for Jaguar, with BAR-Honda's Jacques Villeneuve going 10th quickest - despite being a further seven-tenths down. Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia took 10th from Villeneuve, only for Panis to nudge him down a place. Heidfeld was unable to repeat the feat as he set the 15th best time.

Ralph Firman slipped below Jordan teammate Fisichella in 18th place, while Jos Verstappen, quickest in Friday's bizarre session, finished in 19th place ahead of Wilson.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (4) R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 24.238 50.446 1:15.019 2. (7) Montoya Williams BMW (M) 24.353 50.499 1:15.136 + 0.117 3. (10) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 24.187 50.734 1:15.480 + 0.461 4. (5) Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 24.275 50.612 1:15.533 + 0.514 5. (8) Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 24.441 50.828 1:15.628 + 0.609 6. (6) Trulli Renault (M) 24.536 51.098 1:15.967 + 0.948 7. (3) Alonso Renault (M) 24.516 51.100 1:16.087 + 1.068 8. (11) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 24.426 51.152 1:16.166 + 1.147 9. (14) Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 24.853 51.342 1:16.308 + 1.289 10. (17) Panis Toyota (M) 24.646 51.226 1:16.345 + 1.326 11. (16) Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) 24.801 51.823 1:16.965 + 1.946 12. (15) Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 24.666 51.609 1:16.990 + 1.971 13. (12) da Matta Toyota (M) 24.812 51.744 1:17.068 + 2.049 14. (2) Button BAR Honda (B) 24.545 51.548 1:17.077 + 2.058 15. (18) Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 24.812 51.959 1:17.445 + 2.426 16. (13) Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 24.967 51.994 1:17.562 + 2.543 17. (9) Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 25.149 52.371 1:18.431 + 3.412 18. (19) Firman Jordan Ford (B) 25.269 52.582 1:18.514 + 3.495 19. (20) Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 25.363 52.737 1:18.709 + 3.690 20. (1) Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) 25.953 53.578 1:19.619 + 4.600 Pos ----- Sector 1 ----- ----- Sector 2 ----- ----- Sector 3 ----- 1. M.Schumacher 24.187 Montoya 26.146 R.Schumacher 24.573 2. R.Schumacher 24.238 R.Schumacher 26.208 Montoya 24.637 3. Raikkonen 24.275 Raikkonen 26.337 M.Schumacher 24.746 4. Montoya 24.353 Coulthard 26.387 Coulthard 24.800 5. Barrichello 24.426 Webber 26.489 Trulli 24.869 6. Coulthard 24.441 M.Schumacher 26.547 Raikkonen 24.921 7. Alonso 24.516 Trulli 26.562 Webber 24.966 8. Trulli 24.536 Panis 26.580 Alonso 24.987 9. Button 24.545 Alonso 26.584 Barrichello 25.014 10. Panis 24.646 Barrichello 26.726 Panis 25.119 11. Villeneuve 24.666 da Matta 26.932 Pizzonia 25.142 12. Pizzonia 24.801 Villeneuve 26.943 da Matta 25.324 13. da Matta 24.812 Button 27.003 Villeneuve 25.381 14. Heidfeld 24.812 Pizzonia 27.022 Heidfeld 25.486 15. Webber 24.853 Frentzen 27.027 Button 25.529 16. Frentzen 24.967 Heidfeld 27.147 Frentzen 25.568 17. Fisichella 25.149 Fisichella 27.222 Firman 25.932 18. Firman 25.269 Firman 27.313 Verstappen 25.972 19. Verstappen 25.363 Verstappen 27.374 Wilson 26.041 20. Wilson 25.953 Wilson 27.625 Fisichella 26.060 All timing unofficial