Michael Schumacher grabbed his 66th
career pole position at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola to break the
late Ayrton Senna's all-time record.
“With the car we had, getting a pole was sort of obvious” Michael Schumacher
The German's achievement came at the same track at which Senna had won
his final pole, a day before the Brazilian was killed at this event in
1994.
Schumacher's Ferrari set a lap of one minute 22.795 seconds to beat Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello of Honda.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa was fourth ahead of world champion Fernando Alonso.
Senna's pole mark had been the only F1 performance record not held by
Schumacher, who has now racked up more wins, championship titles, poles
and points than any other driver in history.
Only Italian Riccardo Patrese's achievement of competing in 256 Grands
Prix has so far escaped Schumacher, for whom this weekend marks his
233rd F1 race.
A delighted Schumacher said: "With the car we had, getting a pole was
sort of obvious, but it is always great to start from pole.
"Obviously it has a special meaning to me but right now there is so
much focus on what comes next that I don't pay too much attention to it.
"The record is less important for me - you look at records when you
finish racing. I think we can show our very strong race pace."
Englishman Button earned a spot on the front row for the third race in
succession but Honda team-mate Barrichello impressed more, shrugging
off his poor form so far this season to earn third spot with a time of
1:23.24.
Button said: "We've done a lot of work overnight and really improved.
We needed to because we were quite a long way off on Friday. I am much
happier with the car now.
"We are reasonably happy we have solved a few of our issues, it's just
whether we have solved them all. "I am hoping we have - I wouldn't be
here smiling if not. This is only qualifying, Sunday's the main thing."
Ferrari and Honda's dominance on Saturday left Renault struggling as
championship leader Alonso had to settle for fifth while Giancarlo
Fisichella slumped out of the second knockout round.
"The balance (of the car) is better than it was on Friday and feels
correct for the race, so now we need to try and make up positions at
the start," said Alonso.
Juan Pablo Montoya led McLaren's efforts, clocking 1:24.021 for seventh, ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Meanwhile Jarno Trulli snuck his Toyota into the final elimination round to claim ninth, while Mark Webber was 10th.
Fisichella was just 0.011secs outside the top 10 and had to watch the
pole position shoot-out from the pits as he contemplated an 11th-place
start.
Red Bull's David Coulthard also departed at that stage after earning
14th, behind Nico Rosberg who was forced to qualify in his spare car
after a crash in practice.
The German avoided a grid penalty because his original engine was fitted into the spare Williams
It was also disappointment for Nick Heidfeld, who lost control of his
BMW Sauber and smashed into a tyre wall, leaving him 15th on the grid.
Red Bull's Christian Klien, Scuderia Toro Rosso's Scott Speed, Tiago
Monteiro and fellow Midland driver Christijan Albers, as well as Super
Aguri's Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide, were all eliminated in the first
round of qualifying.
SCHUMACHER MILESTONES
World titles: 7
(5 - Juan Manuel Fangio)
Race wins: 84
(51 - Alain Prost)
Pole positions: 66
(65 - Ayrton Senna)
Fastest laps: 69
(41 - Alain Prost)
World champ points: 1,259
(798.5 - Alain Prost)
Podium finishes: 143
(106 - Alain Prost)
San Marino GP qualifying times:
1 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:22.795
2 J Button (GB) Honda 1:22.988
3 R Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:23.242
4 F Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:23.702
5 F Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:23.709
6 R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:23.772
7 JP Montoya (Col) McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.021
8 K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.158
9 J Trulli (It) Toyota 1:24.172
10 M Webber (Aus) Williams-Cosworth 1:25.205
Second elimination session:
11 G Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:23.711
12 J Villeneuve (Can) BMW Sauber 1:23.877
13 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams-BMW 1:23.966
14 D Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Ferrari 1:24.101
15 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:24.129
16 V Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:24.520
First elimination session: 17 C Klien (Aut) Red Bull-Ferrari 1:25.410
18 S Speed (USA) Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:25.437
19 T Monteiro (Por) Midland-Toyota 1:26.820
20 C Albers (Ned) Midland-Toyota 1:27.088
21 T Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 1:27.609
21 Y Ide (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 1:29.282
