Fernando Alonso took his third Formula One pole position today with a superb qualifying effort for the French Grand Prix at Mangy Cours.
The Spaniard, driving a Renault, set a new lap record with a time of one minute 13.698 seconds to put world champion Michael Schumacher in the shade.
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 to make it an all-British second row with the top four 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. He stayed in provisional pole position for most of the session as the grid's backmarkers followed him.
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.
Grid Positions after Final Qualifying: 1Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 01min 13.698secs, 2Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 01:13.971, 3David Coulthard (Gbr) McLaren Mercedes 01:13.987, 4Jenson Button (Gbr) BAR Honda 01:13.995, 5Jarno Trulli (Ita) Renault 01:14.070, 6Juan Montoya (Col) Williams BMW 01:14.172, 7Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR Honda 01:14.240, 8Marc Gene (Spa) Williams BMW 01:14.275, 9Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren Mercedes 01:14.346, 10Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 01:14.478, 11Cristiano Da Matta (Bra) Toyota 01:14.553, 12Mark Webber (Aus) Jaguar 01:14.798, 13Christian Klien (Aut) Jaguar 01:15.065, 14Olivier Panis (Fra) Toyota 01:15.130, 15Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Sauber Petronas 01:16.177, 16Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber Petronas 01:16.200, 17Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Jordan Cosworth 01:16.807, 18Giorgio Pantano (Ita) Jordan Cosworth 01:17.462, 19Gianmaria Bruni (Ita) Minardi Cosworth 01:17.913, 20Zsolt Baumgartner (Hun) Minardi Cosworth 01:18.247