Formula One news

Unbeatable Schumi sets new pole record

Michael Schumacher was unbeatable in qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix taking a dominant pole position in front of Ferrari's home crowd. The 66th pole position of his career means Schumacher has broken the all-time pole position record set by Ayrton Senna. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello qualified second and third.

It was a lot warmer and sunnier than expected at Imola. Air temperature was at 27 degrees Centigrade and the track 36 degrees as qualifying got underway. The first session saw a traffic jam in the final five minutes as everyone scampered to get out of the drop-out zone. Klien, Speed, Monteiro, Albers, Sato and Ide all ended up taking an early bath.

The second session got off to an explosive start - Michael Schumacher going two seconds faster with a lap of 1m22.579 to set a stunning provisional pole time. Raikkonen was second fastest ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Felipe Massa. Drama came in the final two minutes of the session when Nick Heidfeld lost control of his BMW in the penultimate corner of the lap and smashed into the wall causing yellow flags to be brought out.

The second session drama saw Fisichella, Villeneuve, Rosberg, Coulthrad, Heidfeld and Liuzzi knocked out, qualifying eleventh to sixteenth respectively. All eyes however turned to the final pole shoot out and whether anybody could catch Michael Schumacher.

Schumacher proved untouchable and took his second pole of the season. The result poignantly moves him ahead of Ayrton Senna in the all time pole position table - Schumacher now has 66 poles to his name.

Honda came good in the final session with Button taking second and Barrichello third ahead of Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari. Fernando Alonso could only manage fifth ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. Raikkonen took eighth ahead of Trulli and Webber.

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