Schumacher Leads All-Ferrari Front Row in Hungary

by Will Gray

World Champion Michael Schumacher claimed his 62nd career pole here Saturday when he led a dominant Ferrari one-two in qualifying for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Schumacher, who could claim a record 12th win of the season this weekend, benefited from cooler than usual temperatures of 23 degrees Celsius to clock a time of 1:19.146 and beat teammate Rubens Barrichello by 0.177 seconds.

BAR-Honda finished as the best of the rest with Japanese driver Takuma Sato third and Briton Jenson Button fourth and Renault's Fernando Alonso also put himself in the mix as he claimed the fifth fastest time.

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, who was criticised for his qualifying performance on his debut for Williams at the last race, made amends when he finished sixth and out-qualified his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya by three hundredths.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella finished eighth fastest for Sauber but his teammate Felipe Massa, who would have been penalised 10 places for changing an engine in morning practice, chose not to run and will start from the back.

Renault driver Jarno Trulli, of Italy, finished ninth fastest, just ahead of lead McLaren driver Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who rounded out the top ten with his teammate David Coulthard down in a disappointing 12th place.

Australian Mark Webber, who ended up 11th, was the fourth man out on track in his Jaguar and set the benchmark time with a lap of 1:20.730, which Coulthard failed to beat in his McLaren.

Alonso, however, upped the stakes significantly when he posted a time of 1:19.996 and Raikkonen, out next, could not get within half a second of his rival on his flying lap.

Pizzonia came close but failed to maintain his advantage after the first sector and slotted in 0.174 seconds behind. Trulli was next out was not helped by a few spots of rain and a small jump over a kerb as he failed to better the top two.

Button moved to the front as the threat of rain stayed away but, after Montoya failed to come close, Sato moved ahead by the narrowest of margins despite running wide at the end of his second sector but the Ferraris took the spoils.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (19) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 28.269 56.615 1:19.146 2. (20) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 28.172 56.730 1:19.323 + 0.177 3. (16) Sato BAR-Honda (M) 28.409 56.911 1:19.693 + 0.547 4. (14) Button BAR-Honda (M) 28.716 57.298 1:19.700 + 0.554 5. (10) Alonso Renault (M) 28.595 57.464 1:19.996 + 0.850 6. (12) Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 28.403 57.540 1:20.170 + 1.024 7. (15) Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 28.460 57.625 1:20.199 + 1.053 8. (17) Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 28.635 57.605 1:20.324 + 1.178 9. (13) Trulli Renault (M) 28.519 57.631 1:20.411 + 1.265 10. (11) Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 28.568 57.822 1:20.570 + 1.424 11. (4) Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 29.097 58.009 1:20.730 + 1.584 12. (5) Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 28.521 58.022 1:20.897 + 1.751 13. (7) Panis Toyota (M) 28.894 58.095 1:21.068 + 1.922 14. (3) Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 28.754 58.104 1:21.118 + 1.972 15. (9) Zonta Toyota (M) 28.956 58.305 1:21.135 + 1.989 16. (8) Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 29.056 58.856 1:22.180 + 3.034 17. (6) Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 29.185 58.679 1:22.356 + 3.210 18. (1) Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 29.353 60.241 1:24.329 + 5.183 19. (2) Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 29.724 60.793 1:24.679 + 5.533 20. (18) Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) No Time All timing unofficial