Schumacher, Alonso enjoy qualifying 'race'

For the second qualifying session in a row, both Alonso and Schumacher lined up side by side at the end of the pitlane ahead of the start of the final part of qualifying, both men trying to be in front of the queue to have a clean track ahead of them for the session.

Like at Indianapolis, Alonso beat Schumacher at the start, but the German fought back at the Adelaide hairpin and overtook the Renault driver. The Spaniard regained his position again later in the session, passing Schumacher for the 'lead'.

"It was the same as Indy," said Alonso after qualifying. "It was the most interesting part of qualifying at the moment. We tried to be at the front in the queue and for the burning fuel laps and we managed to do in the pitlane but then Michael overtook me.

"The important thing is to be back here in the press conference in the top three. I had a bad weekend at Indy and we come back to normal here. I am happy and confident tomorrow," added Alonso, who will start from third place tomorrow.

Schumacher eventually seized pole position as Ferrari swept the front row for the second race in succession.

"It was interesting," said Schumacher of the battle with Alonso. "We had a little battle and a little race going. We should give points for this sort of thing..."

The German, seven times a winner at Magny-Cours, lapped a mere 0.017 seconds quicker than Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa for his 68th career pole.