Michael Schumacher borrowed crucial car settings from Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello to bounce back from a morning mishap to take the pole early this morning for tomorrow's season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne.
The five-times world champion claimed his 51st career pole position on the grid with a best time of one minute 27.173 seconds around the 3.295-mile (5.303-kilometre) Albert Park street circuit.
Schumacher, bidding this season to overtake Juan Manuel Fangio for a record-breaking sixth world drivers' championship, had some heart-racing moments during morning practice when his car spun out, careered across a gravel trap and slammed into a safety barrier.
The collision left Schumacher's Ferrari with a dangling left-hand front wheel and he nursed his stricken car back to the pits to begin a furious rescue mission ahead of the afternoon final qualifying.
Faced with a diminished time to set up his Ferrari, Schumacher pinched the settings of teammate Barrichello's car, which claimed fastest time in opening qualifying.
Schumacher made the most of his flying lap and bettered BMW-Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya's time of 1:28.101 to claim the fastest qualifying time for Sunday's race.
"It was a spot-on lap and I don't think I had any margin to push any further," Schumacher said.
"It was good teamwork today as after my problems in the morning, I took Rubens' settings for the afternoon.
"Qualifying went well, but the new timetable makes life tougher for the team, as after the warm-up you have just 15 minutes to get ready for the qualifying and the race."
He will start on the inside of Barrichello, who had the last crack at the fastest time but came up 0.245secs slower than Schumacher in 1:27.418.
The Brazilian, who started from pole position in last year's race only to fail to finish, held no resentment for handing on vital set-up information to Schumacher.
"We are a team, we work together, what happens to me, happens to him and it's not a problem," Barrichello said.
While Montoya nabbed third behind the two Ferraris, No.2 Williams driver Ralf Schumacher paid for a costly driving mistake in his flying lap and had to settle for ninth place in 1:28.830.
"I made a mistake in the first sector which cost me a few tenths of a second," Schumacher said. "Today I had to pay the price for my performance on Friday as this caused my early starting time when the track was not in its best condition."
Sauber's German driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen was fourth in 1:28.274.
AFP