Schumacher Takes Another Pole at the German GP

World Championship leader Michael Schumacher powered to pole position in front of his home fans at Hockenheim for Sunday's German Grand Prix with a scintillating performance in qualifying.

Ferrari driver Schumacher managed to pull out a significant advantage over his rivals in the final sector of the lap despite running ninth in the session and his time of 1:13.306 proved unbeatable.

The pole was Schumacher 61st of his career - leaving him four short of Ayrton Senna's record - and was his sixth of the season. He will be joined on the front row of the grid by Williams-BMW's Juan Pablo Montoya.

BAR-Honda's Jenson Button set the third best time behind Schumacher and Montoya, but he will begin the race from 13th on the grid after having his engine changed after Friday practice.

Instead, McLaren's pair of Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard will be third and fourth on the grid ahead of Renault teammates Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli and the second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello.

BAR-Honda driver Takuma Sato and Olivier Panis, driving Toyota's revised B-spec car, completed the top-ten in the session, while Antonio Pizzonia will move up to 10th on the grid as a result of Button's punishment.

Barrichello narrowly outpaced Sato as both ran in the first half of the grid and Schumacher produced a near-faultless lap to go almost a second quicker than his Ferrari teammate with 10 drivers still to complete their laps.

Raikkonen had looked set to challenge Schumacher's time but the German's speed in the final sector proved unbeatable and the McLaren driver ended almost four-tenths of a second down in second place.

Coulthard also lost out in the final sector as he pushed for pole position but ended third quickest, and Alonso also suffered a similar fate as he went fourth in the times.

But Button demonstrated the pace of his BAR as he bettered Raikkonen's time before Montoya took second place on the grid.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (10) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 16.347 50.805 1:13.306 2. (20) Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 16.167 50.749 1:13.668 + 0.362 3. (18) Button BAR-Honda (M) 16.152 50.865 1:13.674 + 0.368 4. (13) Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 16.163 50.867 1:13.690 + 0.385 5. (16) Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 16.113 50.778 1:13.821 + 0.516 6. (17) Alonso Renault (M) 16.355 50.756 1:13.874 + 0.569 7. (14) Trulli Renault (M) 16.297 51.151 1:14.134 + 0.829 8. (9) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 16.366 51.156 1:14.278 + 0.973 9. (8) Sato BAR-Honda (M) 16.603 51.389 1:14.287 + 0.982 10. (15) Panis Toyota (M) 16.364 51.365 1:14.368 + 1.062 11. (19) Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 16.438 51.375 1:14.556 + 1.251 12. (6) Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 16.605 51.553 1:14.802 + 1.497 13. (7) Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 16.753 51.679 1:15.011 + 1.706 14. (11) Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 16.534 51.957 1:15.395 + 2.090 15. (5) da Matta Toyota (M) 16.723 52.106 1:15.454 + 2.149 16. (12) Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 16.677 52.175 1:15.616 + 2.311 17. (4) Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 16.695 52.283 1:16.192 + 2.887 18. (3) Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 16.912 52.530 1:16.310 + 3.004 19. (2) Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 17.292 53.722 1:18.055 + 4.750 20. (1) Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 17.197 53.764 1:18.400 + 5.094 All timing unofficial