Schumacher Grabs Tenth Season Pole at Indy

Michael Schumacher secured his 10th pole position of the season as he topped the grid at Indianapolis for Sunday's United States Grand Prix.

Ferrari driver Schumacher beat McLaren's Mika Hakkinen to top spot in a titanic battle between the old foes. Schumacher chose not to use his final run, along with the McLarens, and will start on the front row alongside Hakkinen, who has been revitalised since revealing his year's sabbatical in 2002 two weeks ago.

Ralf Schumacher and his Williams teammate Juan Pablo Montoya secured the second row places and start ahead of fifth place Barrichello and the impressive Nick Heidfeld who was sixth quickest in his Sauber. McLaren's David Coulthard will start from the fourth row of the grid along with Jordan driver Jarno Trulli while Jean Alesi in the other Jordan and Benetton's Jenson Button completed the top ten.

Arrows driver Enrique Bernoldi was the first driver out on track, but he aborted his run and failed to post a competitive time as he returned to the pitlane. Minardi's Alex Yoong posted the provisional pole time early in the session before Jacques Villeneuve took over at top spot in his BAR. Fernando Alonso then had a turn in pole position in his Minardi.

Michael Schumacher arrived out for his first lap 28 minutes into the session, but he failed to match the pace of Barrichello and Hakkinen as he set the third best time. Coulthard moved up to third in the times with his second run of the session, but Hakkinen failed to improve on his time as Barrichello remained at the top of the timesheets.

Nick Heidfeld then demoted Ferrari's Schumacher a further place as he moved up to fourth before Ralf Schumacher produced a flying lap to take provisional pole. But Ralf was immediately denied top spot by his brother Michael as the World Champion reduced the time by three-tenths of a second as he broke the one minute and 12 seconds barrier.

Montoya then moved up to fourth, but was still half-a-second down on Schumacher's time. Hakkinen re-took pole with 14 minutes remaining when he lowered Schumacher's time by just two-thousandths of a second while his McLaren teammate Coulthard jumped Montoya for fifth.

Ralf Schumacher improved his time but remained in third place, while Benetton's Jenson Button replaced his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella in eighth position only for Jarno Trulli to knock him down a place. Schumacher moved back to the top with another blistering time - more than two-tenths quicker than Hakkinen's best, and Montoya also responded as he secured fourth place with his third run.

Tomas Enge escaped unhurt after a heavy collision with the tyre wall in the final minutes after he spun his Prost while pushing hard at turn eight, while Heidfeld moved up to sixth with his final run.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:11.708 210.454 km/h 2. Hakkinen Mclaren Mercedes (B) 1:11.945 + 0.237 3. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:11.986 + 0.278 4. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:12.252 + 0.544 5. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:12.327 + 0.619 6. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:12.434 + 0.726 7. Coulthard Mclaren Mercedes (B) 1:12.500 + 0.792 8. Trulli Jordan Honda (B) 1:12.605 + 0.897 9. Alesi Jordan Honda (B) 1:12.607 + 0.899 10. Button Benetton Renault (M) 1:12.805 + 1.097 11. Raikkonen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:12.881 + 1.173 12. Fisichella Benetton Renault (M) 1:12.942 + 1.234 13. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:13.122 + 1.414 14. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:13.189 + 1.481 15. Frentzen Prost Acer (M) 1:13.281 + 1.573 16. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:13.679 + 1.971 17. Alonso Minardi European (M) 1:13.991 + 2.283 18. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:14.012 + 2.304 19. Bernoldi Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:14.129 + 2.421 20. Verstappen Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:14.138 + 2.430 21. Enge Prost Acer (M) 1:14.185 + 2.477 22. Yoong Minardi European (M) 1:15.247 + 3.539 All Timing Unofficial