Record-breaking Schumi takes pole

Six-time world champion Michael Schumacher smashed the Albert Park qualifying lap record to claim pole position for tomorrow’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Schumacher will start on pole for the 56th time in his career in an all-Ferrari front row after recording a blistering lap of one minute 24.408 seconds.

His Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello (1:24.482) had laid down the gauntlet only minutes earlier with a lap which broke the qualifying record he set two years ago when claiming pole.

Ferrari’s technical director Ross Brawn was delighted by the performance of the new F2004, which has dominated here all week and secured an all-Ferrari front row for the 12th time since Schumacher and Barrichello came together in 2000.

“The measures we have, in comparison with the old car, have looked very encouraging over the winter and gave us lots of good messages,” he said.

“It’s encouraging, but we’re just holding back until we see what happens tomorrow because we don’t know what strategies our competitors have chosen; we don’t know how much fuel they have on board.

“Of course we don’t know what the others are doing and we’ll have to wait until tomorrow – but so far we’re happy.”

Williams ace Juan Pablo Montoya and Britain’s Jenson Button – who had to use the spare BAR car after damaging the chassis of his own in the final practice - both clocked 1:24.998 and will share the second row.

Montoya will start third on the grid after recording the fastest time in the first qualifying session – the only time this week that Ferrari did not top the leaderboard – but Button was not disheartened.

“I enjoyed it. It is a great car to drive,” he said.

“You never do a perfect lap, but I’m reasonably happy with that. If we’ve got the reliability in the race, which we should have, we’re looking pretty strong.

“A podium finish would be great, but I think we’ve just got to aim for the higher points.”

Renault’s Fernando Alonso recorded a time of 1:25.699 for fifth place, while local spirits were raised by Mark Webber’s display in the Jaguar – and the Australian will start from sixth on the grid.

Button’s BAR team-mate Takuma Sato, Ralf Schumacher in the Williams, Renault’s Jarno Trulli and Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren closed out the top 10.

It proved a disappointing qualifying session for McLaren, with David Coulthard sliding wide on the last corner to catch the dirt and slip down the placings to 12th, with a time of 1:27.294.

It has not escaped the Scot that he started 11th here last year, but he admitted McLaren just did not have the time to push for pole.

“I think I started on the sixth row last year, so I think I have replicated my performance of last season,” he said.

“With changeable weather, maybe it is possible to come through again -but we don’t have the pace the others have at this moment in time.

“We have got work to do.”

The new back-to-back qualifying system, introduced this season, was being employed for the first time in Melbourne.

Under the new format, each driver records a flying lap in the first 50-minute session with the times to determine the starting order of the second run, slowest going off first.

The second qualifying run had to be done with race fuel loads and race set-up, with the cars to go into closed parking overnight.

Montoya had become the first driver to outpace Michael Schumacher all week when he clocked the fastest time in the opening round of qualifying.

Montoya screamed around Albert Park in 1:25.226, just 0.075secs faster than Schumacher to secure the privilege of heading out last in the deciding flying lap.

“The car was a lot better today. There is a tradition in Williams to get to the circuit and take a bit of time to get going,” said the Colombian.

“We struggled a bit on Friday and just got better and better. I was a bit surprised at the first qualifying and was amazed at the lap time.”

In the end it proved decisive as Button was forced to accept fourth place - not that the BAR team were concerned, judging by the smiles beaming out of their garage.

Barrichello sent the first waves of excitement round Albert Park when he bettered his own qualifying record with a blistering run and was not too disheartened to see Schumacher pip him to pole.

“I’m a happy guy; I pushed as much as I could,” said Barrichello.

“It was a good lap. You have to be happy with yourself. There is no reason why I should go and try to find where I could have gone faster.

“The time for me was seriously quick; the set-up was good; the car was feeling good. Right now it has been a good time for Ferrari.”

That, for Schumacher, was expected.

“It has gone quite well for us, and to be honest we are not too surprised by it,” said the German.

“It did feel good for the first race. We have worked well with the new rules and not lost too much on the power side. We have probably gained on the power side, and I am happy.”