Trulli Puts Amazing Lap for Pole

Renault driver Jarno Trulli claimed his maiden pole position in Formula One as he topped the times in qualifying for the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday.

Trulli, whose previous best grid position was second - he has started from the front row on four occasions including Monaco in 2000 - produced a perfect lap as he went 0.411 seconds quicker than the rest of the field.

Monaco-resident Jenson Button, the BAR-Honda driver who scored his first pole in San Marino last month, will join Trulli on the front row after another solid performance from the British driver.

Ralf Schumacher, last year's pole-sitter, was second quickest in qualifying but will start from 12th on the grid following a 10-grid position penalty for changing the BMW engine in his Williams on Thursday.

Trulli's teammate Fernando Alonso will begin from third after a dream afternoon for the French team, with World Champion Michael Schumacher, attempting to score a record sixth successive win, fourth on the grid for Ferrari.

Kimi Raikkonen brought McLaren's recent troubles to an end and will begin from fifth with Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello alongside him on the third row, while BAR-Honda's Takuma Sato and David Coulthard, of McLaren, will be seventh and eighth respectively.

Last year's winner Juan Pablo Montoya was unable to find his best form and will be ninth on the grid for Williams-BMW with Sauber driver Giancarlo Fisichella completing the top-ten.

Ferrari's Schumacher, the seventh man on track after setting a slow time in the first session, immediately took spot from Jaguar's Mark Webber as went more than 1.2 seconds quicker that the Australian.

Barrichello, also running down the order, slotted into second place with a lap time two-tenths slower than his Ferrari teammate Schumacher. Olivier Panis, winner in Monaco in 1996, was unable to better Webber and went fourth quickest.

Panis was bumped down a further place when Montoya took third, albeit half-a-second off Schumacher's pace, but Trulli produced his best to go 0.531 seconds fastest than the Ferrari driver.

Sato missed the chance of a shot at pole with two mistakes during his run, but Alonso set up a potential all-Renault front row with a time 0.423 seconds slower than teammate Trulli. Fisichella, running in the final five, then took seventh spot for Sauber.

Button split the two Renault's to take second place ahead of Alonso, but Coulthard, the next man up, was unable to threaten the front row and took seventh place behind Sato, behind losing a place when Raikkonen took fifth.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (13) Trulli Renault (M) 19.541 56.252 1:13.985 2. (20) R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 19.515 56.438 1:14.345 + 0.360 3. (17) Button BAR-Honda (M) 19.487 56.586 1:14.396 + 0.411 4. (15) Alonso Renault (M) 19.502 56.394 1:14.408 + 0.423 5. (7) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 19.430 56.434 1:14.516 + 0.531 6. (19) Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 19.692 56.667 1:14.592 + 0.607 7. (10) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 19.498 56.682 1:14.716 + 0.731 8. (14) Sato BAR-Honda (M) 19.360 56.842 1:14.827 + 0.842 9. (18) Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 19.733 56.894 1:14.951 + 0.966 10. (12) Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 19.693 56.933 1:15.039 + 1.054 11. (16) Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 19.890 57.233 1:15.352 + 1.367 12. (6) Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 20.083 57.630 1:15.725 + 1.740 13. (11) Panis Toyota (M) 19.949 57.620 1:15.859 + 1.874 14. (5) Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 20.102 57.597 1:15.919 + 1.934 15. (8) da Matta Toyota (M) 20.102 57.861 1:16.169 + 2.184 16. (9) Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 19.676 57.770 1:16.248 + 2.263 17. (4) Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 20.099 58.059 1:16.488 + 2.503 18. (3) Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 20.330 58.847 1:17.443 + 3.458 19. (2) Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 21.032 60.830 1:20.060 + 6.075 20. (1) Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 21.083 60.809 1:20.115 + 6.130 All timing unofficial