Schumacher thwarts Raikkonen's pole bid

Michael Schumacher snatched a third successive pole position to thwart championship leader Kimi Raikkonen at the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg today.

Sat, 17 May, 2003 - 14:59

Michael Schumacher snatched a third successive pole position to thwart championship leader Kimi Raikkonen at the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg today.

The Ferrari driver claimed his fourth pole of the season – and 54th of his career – by just 0.039 seconds from Raikkonen, who he trails by four points heading into the sixth round of the campaign.

Raikkonen looked set to celebrate his maiden pole with Schumacher, last man on the track, trailing at the first sector but the German just made up the deficit and he will bid for a hat-trick of wins tomorrow.

Colombia’s Juan Pablo Montoya finished third fastest for the under-pressure Williams team with Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld fourth – the best qualifying position of his career.

Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello, controversially forced to hand victory to team-mate Schumacher last year, could only finish fifth in the other Ferrari this afternoon.

Jenson Button will start seventh while BAR-Honda team-mate Jacques Villeneuve’s promising showing so far came to nothing as a ragged lap left him back in 12th spot.

David Coulthard almost slid off after clipping the kerb at the final corner too hard but paid for his mistake with a lowly grid position of 14th – his worst of the season – in his McLaren.

The 32-year-old Scot, who has the best record on the A1-Ring of all the current drivers, could find it difficult to get onto the podium tomorrow and stop himself from sliding further down the championship pecking order.

Rookies Ralph Firman and Justin Wilson will start in 16th and 18th places respectively for Jordan and Minardi.

The duo were split by Jaguar’s Mark Webber who, like several drivers, paid the price for almost going off at the tricky final corner.

Spain’s Fernando Alonso, hailed as Formula One’s newest star after finishing a career-best second to Schumacher in his home race two weeks ago, knew difficult times were ahead – though he probably was not expecting them to happen so quickly.

The 21-year-old suffered his worst qualifying of the season as he drifted too wide at a corner and slid into the gravel.

Alonso kept the Renault engine ticking over and managed to get back on the circuit but lost over 10 seconds in the process and will start 19th on the grid.

The Oxford-based racer was only saved from bottom place with Jos Verstappen unable to register a time after encountering a technical problem on his qualifying lap and being forced to park his Minardi.

FIA Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix, Zeltweg, Austria

Times and grid positions after final qualifying:

1 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1min 9.150secs,

2 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 1:09.189,

3 Juan Montoya (Col) Williams 1:09.391,

4 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber 1:09.725,

5 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:09.784,

6 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Renault 1:09.890,

7 Jenson Button (Gbr) BAR 1:09.935,

8 Antonio Pizzonia (Bra) Jaguar 1:10.045,

9 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Jordan 1:10.105,

10 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Williams 1:10.279,