Kimi Raikkonen claimed a career first F1 pole position in qualifying at the Nurburgring for tomorrow's European Grand Prix, in a close session that saw the top five covered by just quarter of a second. The Finn's flying lap saw him edge Michael Schumacher in the final sector to snatch pole by three hundredths of a second.

Ralf Schumacher out qualified his Williams-BMW team mate Juan Pablo Montoya to line up third, while Rubens Barrichello in the second Ferrari had a poor run but held onto fifth place, one ahead of Renault's solid qualifying performer, Jarno Trulli. Olivier Panis maintained his and Toyota's improvement in form to set seventh fastest time, with Renault's rising star Fernando Alonso, completing row four.

FERRARI

Jean Todt: 

"We witnessed a great battle for pole position, with five drivers all within less than three tenths of a second. It is a testimony of the current high level of competition between the top teams, even though there is the question mark over the different fuel levels in the cars." 

"Nevertheless, right from the start of the weekend we have seen there is little to chose between the main protagonists in the championship. Having one car on the front row and the other on the third is a good result overall. Tomorrow's race should be very closely contested and reliability and strategy will be the key points. Bridgestone has done a very good job on the tyre front which means we can be competitive, given the importance of the tyres in Formula 1." 

Michael Schumacher: 

"It was very close between the top few drivers, so I think it should be an interesting race tomorrow. I made a slight mistake, when I locked up a front wheel, which could have robbed me of pole. In terms of strategy I feel we have made the right decision, but we won't find out until the race. I think our lap times will be good tomorrow. In some ways, I would have been happier with third place, because being second on the inside line the track is a bit dirtier there and I could lose out a little bit." 

Rubens Barrichello: 

"We made a major step forward with the car compared with yesterday and my time is very close to the pole time. It's a shame I am not further up the grid, but I am still confident about tomorrow's race, especially as last year I did not start from pole but in the end I still managed to win the Grand Prix. I can therefore be optimistic given that we know we can count on an excellent car-engine-Bridgestone tyre package. 

Ross Brawn: 

"It was a very spectacular session which puts us in a good position for tomorrow's race. We have worked hard all weekend and we know what to expect from our chosen tyre. It will probably be hot tomorrow which will make tyre performance crucial. The fact we are not on pole is not too worrying as we have shown that we can win even when we have not been ahead of the entire field in qualifying. Bridgestone has come up with good tyres and we have a very competitive car, so we have all we need to fight for the win tomorrow." 

Michael Schumacher: 2nd  1.31.555 3 laps  chassis 229 
Rubens Barrichello: 5th  1.31.780 3 laps  chassis 230