F1: Schumacher steals performance

It was another day of brilliance from Michael Schumacher as the German put in a vintage performance to claim San Marino Grand Prix pole position.

Sat, 13 Apr, 2002 - 14:29

It was another day of brilliance from Michael Schumacher as the German put in a vintage performance to claim San Marino Grand Prix pole position.

It’s hard to keep coming up with new superlatives for this amazing racing driver but his final qualifying lap at Imola was yet another awesome display of his sublime talents.

Rain in the practice sessions meant that the drivers were going into uncharted territory in the dry qualifying session. The Williams drivers looked to have adapted to the new conditions the quickest as first Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher set the pace.

But it was Rubens Barrichello that really raised the stakes when he put in a great lap in his second run. Both the Williams drivers and Schumacher struggled to get near the mark and the world champion looked ragged at times in his attempts to get on terms.

But Schumacher pulled out an last minute flyer out of the bag to knock his team-mate of the top spot in the dying moments of the session.

Times and grid positions after qualifying:

1 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1 min 21.091secs,

2 Rubens Barrichello (Ger) Ferrari at 0.064 secs,

3 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Williams at 0.382,

4 Juan Pablo Montoya (Col) Williams at 0.514,

5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren at 1.013,

6 David Coulthard (Gbr) McLaren at 1.399,

7 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber at 1.676,

8 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Renault at 1.742,

9 Jenson Button (Gbr) Renault at 1.765,

10 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) British American Racing at 2.025,