Schumacher on Pole in Dramatic Qualifying - Austria

World Champion Michael Schumacher grabbed a sensational pole position for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix at the A1-Ring after recovering from a major slide to deny Kimi Raikkonen top spot in qualifying.

McLaren driver Raikkonen, the Championship leader, had been set for his first pole position with an impressive lap but Schumacher produced an amazing recovery from an early error to score his 54th career pole. Schumacher, on pole for three of the opening five races this season, slid at turn two but recovered in the final two sectors to snatch pole by just 0.039 seconds with a time of 1:09.150.

Williams-BMW driver Juan Pablo Montoya was not troubled as he powered to third on the grid, while Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld produced the surprise performance of the day to take fourth and a place on the second row.

Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello ended fifth ahead of Renault driver Jarno Trulli, with Briton Jenson Button seventh for BAR-Honda. Antonio Pizzonia recorded his best qualifying performance in eighth, with Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella and Williams' Ralf Schumacher completing the top ten.

Ralf Schumacher, the first man on the track after failing to set a time on Friday, set a best time on 1:10.279 seconds, and Jordan's Ralph Firman, who competed with a bruised hand after his crash in Friday qualifying, was unable to better the time.

Justin Wilson took to the track in the spare car following his early morning accident and ended up more than four seconds off the pace of Schumacher. Wilson's Minardi teammate Jos Verstappen made an error at turn one and then had gearshift problems as he lost fourth and fifth gears and pulled off the track and will start from the back of the grid.

Toyota's Cristiano da Matta took second behind Ralf Schumacher, but was half-a-second down on the Williams-BMW driver, while Sauber's Heinz-Harald Frentzen slotted into third position.

Olivier Panis moved ahead of his Toyota teammate da Matta with a time a tenth-of-a-second short of Ralf Schumacher, but Fernando Alonso made an error at Niki Lauda Kurve and ran over the gravel. He completed his lap but was 10 seconds off the pace.

Heidfeld put his Sauber at the top of the times after going more than half-a-second quicker than Ralf Schumacher, and Jarno Trulli then set the second best time for Renault.

Giancarlo Fisichella set the third best time for Jordan, only for Jaguar rookie Antonio Pizzonia to go marginally quicker and move ahead of him.

Championship leader Raikkonen, who failed to qualify in Spain two weeks ago after crashing off, produced a solid lap to take provisional pole from Heidfeld by half-second.

Raikkonen's teammate David Coulthard ran wide in the final corner of his run attempting to retrieve time lost and could only go ninth quickest behind da Matta, 1.7 seconds adrift of the Finn's time.

Montoya moved into second place two-tenths behind Raikkonen after a problem-free run almost a second quicker than Williams-BMW teammate Ralf Schumacher.

Button, like Coulthard, ran wide at the final corner and dropped in behind Trulli, and his BAR-Honda teammate Jacques Villeneuve made errors and went off track at the first corner and the final turn and ended 1.429 seconds off the pace.

Jaguar's Mark Webber went wider than Villeneuve in turn one and ran over the grass, made another effort at the next corner and was more than two seconds off the pole time.

Barrichello was half-a-second off the pace and dropped behind Raikkonen, Montoya and Heidfeld, and Schumacher got it wrong in his run as he slid at turn two but still grabbed pole position.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (20) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 17.238 46.756 1:09.150 2. (13) Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 17.079 46.708 1:09.189 + 0.039 3. (15) Montoya Williams BMW (M) 17.221 46.897 1:09.391 + 0.241 4. (9) Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 17.307 46.911 1:09.725 + 0.575 5. (19) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 17.352 46.937 1:09.784 + 0.634 6. (10) Trulli Renault (M) 17.491 47.148 1:09.890 + 0.740 7. (16) Button BAR Honda (B) 17.208 46.872 1:09.935 + 0.785 8. (12) Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) 17.451 47.307 1:10.045 + 0.895 9. (11) Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 17.303 47.007 1:10.105 + 0.955 10. (1) R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 17.597 47.635 1:10.279 + 1.129 11. (7) Panis Toyota (M) 17.352 47.559 1:10.402 + 1.252 12. (17) Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 17.788 47.595 1:10.618 + 1.468 13. (5) da Matta Toyota (M) 17.515 47.896 1:10.834 + 1.684 14. (14) Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 17.284 47.320 1:10.893 + 1.743 15. (6) Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 17.517 47.981 1:11.307 + 2.157 16. (2) Firman Jordan Ford (B) 17.348 47.715 1:11.505 + 2.355 17. (18) Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 18.411 48.776 1:11.662 + 2.512 18. (3) Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) 17.799 49.356 1:14.508 + 5.358 19. (8) Alonso Renault (M) 17.287 - 1:20.113 +10.963 20. (4) Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) - - No Time Top Speed: 309.0 (Barrichello, Ferrari) All timing unofficial