Silverstone, July 20: Brazilian Rubens Barrichello seized pole position for the British Grand Prix after a rare qualifying error by Ferrari team mate Michael Schumacher. Championship leader Schumacher, winner last year, was comfortably inside Barrichello's time when he went off at the exit to Abbey curve at Silverstone on Saturday (July 19) and slipped to fifth fastest. It was Barrichello's second pole of the season, after Brazil in April and a remarkable turnaround for Ferrari's patient number two who failed to clock a time in Friday's first qualifying. He shares the front row with Italian Jarno Trulli in a Renault, with Schumacher's closest championship rival Kimi Raikkonen third quickest for McLaren ahead of Ralf Schumacher's Williams. Michael leads Raikkonen by eight points in the championship and Ralf by 11 with six races remaining including Sunday's start. Schumacher shared the third row with Brazilian rookie Cristiano da Matta in a Toyota. Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, on pole in Britain last year, will start on the fourth row alongside Spaniard Fernando Alonso in the second Renault.


Jaguar had an encouraging afternoon, with Brazilian rookie Antonio Pizzonia lapping faster than his Australian team mate Mark Webber for only the third time in 11 races. They were 10th and 11th respectively.


Briton Jenson Button, a favourite with the home fans, will start from the back of the field after parking up with a mechanical problem and failing to set a time. The 23-year-old trudged back to the BAR garages, his hopes of collecting a first career podium in Sunday's race looking more distant than ever.


Britain's other hopes also disappointed, with none of them in the top half of the grid. McLaren's David Coulthard lapped more than a second slower than Raikkonen, taking 12th place. Ralph Firman, in a Jordan, and Minardi's Justin Wilson will make their home debuts from 17th and 18th place respectively.


Raikkonen said afterwards that he was quite happy with the car and thought they were in with good chance. Trulli was happy, but surprised.


"Extremely happy but also I'm pretty surprised about my performance because I've been struggling all weekend with, you know, some trouble which stopped me to improve my performance and car set-up. But then we got on top of it, right for the qualifying and you know it's good to be second -- unexpected, but it's the best way to thank all the people which work in the team," he said.


Barrichello said his car was running fast and he was very confident about the race. He also said everything about the car was better than in the last race.


Grid positions for Sunday's British Formula One Grand Prix after Saturday's final qualifying: 1. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari 1 minutes 21.209 seconds 2. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Renault 1:21.381 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren 1:21.695 4. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Williams 1:21.727 5. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 1:21.867 6. Cristiano da Matta (Brazil) Toyota 1:22.081 7. Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) Williams 1:22.214 8. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:22.404 9. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) BAR 1:22.591 10. Antonio Pizzonia (Brazil) Jaguar 1:22.634 11. Mark Webber (Australia) Jaguar 1:22.647 12. David Coulthard (Britain) McLaren 1:22.811 13. Olivier Panis (France) Toyota 1:23.042 14. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Germany) Sauber 1:23.187 15. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Jordan 1:23.574 16. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Sauber 1:23.844 17. Ralph Firman (Britain) Jordan 1:24.385 18. Justin Wilson (Britain) Minardi 1:25.468 19. Jos Verstappen (Netherlands) Minardi 1:25.759 20. Jenson Button (Britain) BAR no time


Bureau Report