Schumacher leads Ferrari 1-2 in qualifying
Just as some may have expected after the blistering pace of Ferrari in testing at Imola, the Scuderia were on top in qualifying, just as in the free practice sessions on Friday and Saturday. With M Schumacher on pole, and Barrichello second, the Italians have the best prospect of a good race. Both drivers are separated only by a mere 0.074sec.
However, the main threat is to come from JP Montoya, who is determined because of his improving car trough all weekend. Jenson Button qualified a strong fourth ahead of Alonso and Webber.
Button however managed qualifying in the BAR spare car, after a problem was detected for his race car. The team managed to swith Button's engine in time to the spare, and allowed Button to set a good qualifying run.
McLaren on the other hand had a bad qualifying session with last year's championship runnerup Kimi Raikkonen of Finland 10th fastest in 1:26.297 and last year's race winner David Coulthard of Scotland 12th quickest in 1:27.294. Both driver however set the 5th and 6nd best time during first qualifying, but were unable to confirm those results during the decisive second session.
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:24.408 | 6 |
| 2 | 2 | Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | 1:24.482 | 6 |
| 3 | 3 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams Bmw | 1:24.998 | 6 |
| 4 | 9 | Jenson Button | Bar Honda | 1:24.998 | 6 |
| 5 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:25.699 | 6 |
| 6 | 14 | Mark Webber | Jaguar Cosworth | 1:25.805 | 6 |
| 7 | 10 | Takuma Sato | Bar Honda | 1:25.851 | 6 |
| 8 | 4 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams Bmw | 1:25.925 | 6 |
| 9 | 7 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 1:26.290 | 6 |
| 10 | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren Mercedes | 1:26.297 | 6 |
| 11 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber Petronas | 1:27.065 | 6 |
| 12 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren Mercedes | 1:27.294 | 6 |
| 13 | 16 | Cristiano da Matta | Toyota | 1:27.823 | 6 |
| 14 | 11 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Sauber Petronas | 1:27.845 | 6 |
| 15 | 18 | Nick Heidfeld | Jordan Ford | 1:28.178 | 6 |
| 16 | 19 | Giorgio Pantano | Jordan Ford | 1:30.140 | 6 |
| 17 | 21 | Zsolt Baumgartner | Minardi Cosworth | 1:30.681 | 6 |
| 18 | 17 | Olivier Panis | Toyota | 1:27.253 | 3 |
| 19 | 15 | Christian Klien | Jaguar Cosworth | 1:27.258 | 4 |
| 20 | 20 | Gianmaria Bruni | Minardi Cosworth | 1:30.912 | 3 |
