Schumacher, who has won eight of the nine races this season, could not get within a quarter of a second of Alonso and ended the session 0.273secs slower than pole position in second.

Scotsman David Coulthard produced his best qualifying effort of the season in McLaren’s new car to offer hope of a change in fortunes.

Coulthard has only scored nine points so far in a torrid season but hit back today to take third place, just 0.289secs behind Alonso.

Jenson Button will line up in fourth for BAR. The top four are separated by less than three 10ths of a second.

Marc Gene qualified a respectable eighth for just his second grand prix in four seasons, as a stand-in at Williams.

Rubens Barrichello, who could not take part in pre-qualifying due to a hydraulics problem, set the early marker after being first out on track.

The Brazilian stayed on top for half an hour before being usurped, with Gene surprisingly going faster.

The Spanish test driver is only driving for Williams this weekend because Ralf Schumacher is injured but he proved the team right to show faith in him by briefly going fastest.

His time at the top did not last long, however, as BAR’s Takuma Sato immediately beat his effort before Jarno Trulli took his Renault to the fastest time.

The lap times were beginning to fall rapidly as the big guns hit the track and Button was next to improve, becoming the first man to break the 1:14 barrier.

Even Button’s lap was not good enough for pole position with Alonso comfortably beating the Englishman’s time.

Alonso’s time did stick it out at the top though as first Coulthard and then Schumacher fell short.

It was another miserable day for the Jordan team. Nick Heidfeld qualified in 17th place while Giorgio Pantano was 18th.