Jacques blast from the past

JACQUES VILLENEUVE'S sensational performance to claim third spot in provisional qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix left him reminiscing about his world championship season of 1997.

The Canadian and British American Racing team-mate Jenson Button have put their differences to one side and yesterday launched a twin assault on the establishment, gatecrashing the top five after the first-ever 'flying lap' qualifying in Formula One.

Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello took provisional pole in one minute 26.372 seconds, with McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen second, 0.179secs back, and Michael Schumacher relegated to fourth spot.

Button finished fifth with the Williams' of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher off the pace in 10th and 16th respectively.

It was a remarkable turnaround for the BAR pair, whose day started in disappointing fashion as both their Honda engines blew up inside the first 16 minutes of practice.

There was a disheartening sense of deja-vu about the whole episode at Albert Park, following Honda's miserable track record of shredding engines last year.

The Japanese company, who also powered Jordan during 2002, went through five engines during the Belgian Grand Prix alone, three of them attached to the B.A.R of former driver Oliver Panis.

It meant Villeneuve and Button had completed fewer than 10 full-pace laps between them by the time qualifying came round, seemingly sending the former CART champion's predictions that BAR had a car to be reckoned with up in smoke.

But the mechanics had worked feverishly and Villeneuve was proved right as he clocked one of only three laps under 1min 27secs.

"It's the best I've felt in a car since 1997," beamed Villeneuve.

"It is a huge surprise because I really thought we had screwed up this morning. We didn't have enough time to work on a set-up and if you only have two laps that is not enough time to get a feel for the car or to get a reference point on the circuit.

"It just shows that we have got a very good car, it's fast but a bit fragile at the moment."

More so because Button also shone with the young Briton was only 0.056secs off Michael Schumacher.

In many ways this first qualifying session will give more of a clue about the genuine pace of each car, with each running on minimal fuel. The new regulations state cars must start tomorrow's race carrying the fuel load with which they finish today's deciding qualifying session.

That means qualifying will become a key factor in race tactics, with the probability that many of the bigger teams could end up unusually far down the grid because they are likely to qualify with large fuel loads.

British rookie Justin Wilson, Stoddart's new signing, trailed over four seconds off the pace and finished 20th behind Jaguar debutant Antonio Pizzonia.

Schumacher said he felt a little like a "road-sweeping machine" having to go out first and admitted it affected his qualification time.

But he stressed: "In the end Rubens did a good lap and I did not. But tomorrow's session is the important one."

In the other McLaren, David Coulthard clocked sixth place ahead of Renault pair Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli, who finished either side of Toyota's Panis.