Schumacher fended off the challenges of Juan Pablo Montoya, who later retired, and his teammate Rubens Barrichello, whose race strategy cost him a chance of victory and demoting him to third.

However this time, it is believed that Ferrari have closed the gap considerably in terms of engine power and therefore expect a showdown between the 2 teams with tyres playing a major role in the outcome of the race.

Juan Pablo Montoya in the Williams secured his third pole position of the season and the sixth of his career after seeing off a close challenge from world championship leader, Michael Schumacher.

Michael Schumacher`s teammate Rubens Barrichello lined up third, despite an accident during Saturday morning final free practice session and a spin towards the end of qualifying.

Jenson Button in the Renault led the remaining Michelin runners, ahead of Eddie Irvine, Pedro de la Rosa, Mika Salo, Allan McNish, Mark Webber and Alex Yoong.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella gave the Jordan team heart by posting his first top-six qualifying performance of the season, but his teammate Takuma Sato's session was ruined by a spectacular engine failure.

The Ferrari driver began to gradually extend his lead, but with the Brazilian on a two-stop strategy, he would need to make up a comfortable margin to be able to retain it after the stops.

[5] With Montoya out, Schumacher was able to take it easy, while his teammate set about Coulthard for second position, after the Scot had passed both Barrichello and Räikkönen during the pit stops.

Having failed to finish any of the previous eight Grand Prix, Olivier Panis took a morale boosting eighth position, ahead of Felipe Massa's Sauber.

Takuma Sato made up for his Monaco crash with a conservative tenth-place finish, ahead of Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld, who was forced to take two drive-through penalties after his speed-limiter failed.

The second Jaguar of Irvine only lasted twelve laps longer before its engine blew, while neither Toyota made the finish either; Mika Salo succumbed to brake problems, while McNish spun off.