Montoya on pole
Juan Pablo Montoya snatched pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix to give McLaren a clean sweep of the front row at Spa-Francorchamps.
McLaren lived up to their billing as favourites for tomorrow’s race with Montoya just pipping team-mate Raikkonen to top spot.
Montoya’s lap, which came at the very end of the session, stopped the clock at one minute 46.391 seconds, just 0.049secs quicker than Raikkonen, who needs a strong result tomorrow to keep his world championship dream alive.
Giancarlo Fisichella was the fastest of the two Renaults, setting the third quickest time, but he must start from 13th.
The Italian had been troubled with a problematic Renault engine all weekend but the team held out hope the unit would survive, avoiding the 10-place penalty which comes with a change.
But they changed the engine before qualifying, fearing a valve problem would have ended Fisichella’s race prematurely.
World championship leader Fernando Alonso can seal the title if he scores four points more than Raikkonen tomorrow but the odds on him completing the job at Spa lengthened today.
Alonso was over a quarter of a second slower than Montoya and Raikkonen and will start fourth.
Qualifying specialist Jarno Trulli will line up alongside him on row two after he pulled out yet another stunning lap to net third on the grid.
Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher will share the third row with brother Michael, the pair qualifying fifth and sixth respectively.
Felipe Massa caused a surprise by taking seventh while Jenson Button’s chances of a second podium this season were hit by a disappointing lap in his BAR-Honda.
The Englishman started the weekend confident of a strong result following a low-key eighth place in Italy last time out but his qualifying lap showed no improvement.
Button will start from eighth, although he at least out-qualified team-mate Takuma Sato by two places. Red Bull driver David Coulthard starts 11th.
At the back of the grid, Minardi were the resounding winners in their regular fight with Jordan to avoid Formula One’s wooden spoon.
Dutchmen Robert Doornbos and Christijan Albers shone in qualifying for the nearest they have to a home grand prix, taking 17th and 18th respectively.
