Schumacher on course for pole again

Michael Schumacher is on course to claim the 48th pole position of his career after producing a near-faultless performance in practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

A dominant Schumacher was never headed in any of the four practice sessions at the Hungaroring, meaning he has now been quickest in the last seven free timed runs as he topped the standings in the final three for the German Grand Prix.

Schumacher went on to claim pole, the fastest lap and take victory at Hockenheim, and he looks set to repeat the feat this weekend such has been his superiority, which would equal the record of 11 during a grand prix career set by the late Jim Clark.

The five-times world champion, who is already a phenomenal 66 points clear in this season’s championship, is also poised to claim the outright record for most number of race wins in a year, taking the mark to 10 should he prove triumphant tomorrow.

Schumacher finished with a time of one minute 14.308 seconds, with only team-mate Rubens Barrichello coming close to dislodging the 33-year-old German from top spot.

The Brazilian closed to within 0.161secs, but the rest of the field were nowhere in Formula One terms, with the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen next quickest, albeit almost 1.5 secs adrift.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who had struggled in the previous three sessions, finished in fourth in his Williams BMW with a time of 1:15.912, with Felipe Massa in the Sauber and the BAR of Olivier Panis completing the top six.

David Coulthard was the best of the five Britons who make up a quarter of the field for this race due to Arrows’ no-show, the Leafield-based team acting upon advice taken from their lawyers due to ongoing negotiations with potential investors.

Coulthard, though, was down in 11th and two seconds off Schumacher’s pace, with the Toyota of Alan McNish rising to 14th and his best time of 1:16.710.

Jenson Button, who careered into a tyre wall at the end of this morning’s first 45-minute run, was left to reflect on a lowly 16th in his Renault, with Jaguar’s Eddie Irvine down in 18th.

Anthony Davidson, savouring his first grand prix after only being told a week ago he would be driving for back-of-the-field Minardi, produced an encouraging final run.

Although still 20th, Davidson closed to within four seconds of Schumacher with a time which would see him safely qualify later today, clocking 1:18.483.