Ralf Schumacher on Pole for the Monaco GP

BMW-Williams's Ralf Schumacher claimed the second pole position of his career after an impressive lap around the streets of Monte Carlo on Saturday secured top spot for the Monaco Grand Prix.

The German set the best time of 1:15.259 to deny McLaren-Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen pole as Ferrari faltered with World Champion Michael Schumacher fifth and his teammate Rubens Barrichello seventh. Ralf Schumacher has never started from higher than fourth in Monaco.

Raikkonen was just over three-hundredths of a second slower than Ralf Schumacher, with BMW-Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya, on pole in the race last year, starting from third on the grid. Renault's Jarno Trulli was fourth.

Last year's winner David Coulthard will begin from the third row along with Michael Schumacher, while Spaniard Fernando Alonso secured eighth place for Renault. Jaguar's Mark Webber and Toyota driver Cristiano da Matta completed the top ten.

Only 19 drivers took part in qualifying with Briton Jenson Button withdrawn by his BAR-Honda team after his crash in morning practice. He will start Sunday's race from the pitlane if he is passed fit to compete.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen, the first man on track following his engine failure on Thursday, set a benchmark of 1:17.402 which was immediately beaten by Cristiano da Matta, despite the Brazilian locking his wheels at the chicane.

Olivier Panis, a former winner of the event, failed to go quicker than his Toyota teammate da Matta, while Minardi's Justin Wilson finished more than three seconds adrift of the lead time.

Wilson's teammate Jos Verstappen also failed to trouble the Toyota of da Matta as he completed his lap almost two seconds down. Jaguar driver Antonio Pizzonia slotted in behind da Matta before Fernando Alonso took provisional pole with a lap time more than eight-tenths quicker than the Toyota driver.

Jordan's Ralph Firman then went quicker than Panis and BAR-Honda driver Jacques Villeneuve bettered the time set by Pizzonia to go third quickest. Championship leader Raikkonen, who had struggled running first on the track on Thursday, produced an impressive run to take over at the top of the times after going more than half-a-second quicker than Alonso.

Nick Heidfeld, the next man on track, outqualified teammate Frentzen and Jaguar's Mark Webber moved into fourth with a solid lap, albeit almost a second down on Raikkonen. Montoya threatened to snatch pole from Raikkonen with a quick lap but finished just over a tenth behind the McLaren driver.

Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella was unable to trouble the quickest drivers as he finished 1.672 down, but Ralf Schumacher did as he produced a great lap to take provisional pole from Raikkonen by just three-hundredths of a second.

Coulthard had been in contention to challenge for pole but lost time in the middle sector and had to settle for fourth place behind Ralf Schumacher, Raikkonen and Montoya.

Trulli was quickest through the first sector but ended fourth, while Barrichello was more than half-a-second off Ralf Schumacher's pace and slotted in sixth behind Coulthard. And World Champion Michael Schumacher could not deny his brother pole as he ended fifth overall.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (15) R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 19.781 57.018 1:15.259 2. (10) Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 19.787 57.038 1:15.295 + 0.036 3. (13) Montoya Williams BMW (M) 19.811 57.218 1:15.415 + 0.156 4. (17) Trulli Renault (M) 19.716 57.339 1:15.500 + 0.241 5. (19) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 19.678 57.300 1:15.644 + 0.385 6. (16) Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 19.799 57.447 1:15.700 + 0.441 7. (18) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 19.805 57.301 1:15.820 + 0.561 8. (7) Alonso Renault (M) 19.786 57.437 1:15.884 + 0.625 9. (12) Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 19.881 57.870 1:16.237 + 0.978 10. (2) da Matta Toyota (M) 20.128 58.186 1:16.744 + 1.485 11. (9) Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 20.141 58.175 1:16.755 + 1.496 12. (14) Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 20.034 58.398 1:16.967 + 1.708 13. (6) Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) 20.146 58.540 1:17.103 + 1.844 14. (11) Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 20.048 58.365 1:17.176 + 1.917 15. (1) Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 20.120 58.467 1:17.402 + 2.143 16. (8) Firman Jordan Ford (B) 19.889 58.264 1:17.452 + 2.193 17. (3) Panis Toyota (M) 20.193 58.729 1:17.464 + 2.205 18. (5) Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 20.508 59.707 1:18.706 + 3.447 19. (4) Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) 21.081 60.723 1:20.063 + 4.804 Pos ----- Sector 1 ----- ----- Sector 2 ----- ----- Sector 3 ----- 1. M.Schumacher 19.678 R.Schumacher 37.237 Trulli 18.161 2. Trulli 19.716 Raikkonen 37.251 Montoya 18.197 3. R.Schumacher 19.781 Montoya 37.407 R.Schumacher 18.241 4. Alonso 19.786 Barrichello 37.496 Coulthard 18.253 5. Raikkonen 19.787 M.Schumacher 37.622 Raikkonen 18.257 6. Coulthard 19.799 Trulli 37.623 M.Schumacher 18.344 7. Barrichello 19.805 Coulthard 37.648 Webber 18.367 8. Montoya 19.811 Alonso 37.651 Alonso 18.447 9. Webber 19.881 Webber 37.989 Barrichello 18.519 10. Firman 19.889 Villeneuve 38.034 da Matta 18.558 11. Fisichella 20.034 da Matta 38.058 Pizzonia 18.563 12. Heidfeld 20.048 Heidfeld 38.317 Fisichella 18.569 13. Frentzen 20.120 Frentzen 38.347 Villeneuve 18.580 14. da Matta 20.128 Fisichella 38.364 Panis 18.735 15. Villeneuve 20.141 Firman 38.375 Heidfeld 18.811 16. Pizzonia 20.146 Pizzonia 38.394 Frentzen 18.935 17. Panis 20.193 Panis 38.536 Verstappen 18.999 18. Verstappen 20.508 Verstappen 39.199 Firman 19.188 19. Wilson 21.081 Wilson 39.642 Wilson 19.340 Top Speed: 291.2 (R.Schumacher, Williams) All timing unofficial