Michael Schumacher will start tomorrow’s German Grand Prix from pole position after a scintillating qualifying session at Hockenheim this afternoon.
The World Champion beat his brother Ralf in Williams-BMW into second by 0.181secs.
Rubens Barrichello improved with every run, but his time of 1:14.693 was only good enough for third, with Juan Pablo Montoya having to settle for fourth.
Kimi Raikkonen in the McLaren and the Jordan of Giancarlo Fisichella completed the top six, with the latter clearly having recovered from his horrifying shunt in final practice for the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours last weekend.
For David Coulthard, ninth place in his McLaren represents his worst qualifying performance of the season, while Jenson Button was 13th in the Renault, with Eddie Irvine and Allan McNish 16th and 17th respectively in the Jaguar and Toyota.
For the fourth time this season, Alex Yoong failed to qualify his Minardi, again finishing outside the 107% time limit.
1. Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1min 14.389sec
2. Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW 1:14.570
3. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:14.693
4. Juan Pablo Montoya (Col) Williams-BMW 1:15.108
5. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.639
6. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Jordan-Honda 1:15.690
7. Olivier Panis (Fra) BAR-Honda 1:15.851
8. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Renault 1:15.885
9. David Coulthard (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.909
10. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber-Petronas 1:15.990
11. Jacques Villeneuve (Can) BAR-Honda 1:16.070
12. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Jordan-Honda 1:16.072
13. Jenson Button (Gbr) Renault 1:16.278
14. Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber-Petronas 1:16.351 15. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Ger) Arrows-Cosworth 1:16.505
16. Eddie Irvine (Gbr) Jaguar-Cosworth 1:16.533
17. Allan McNish (Gbr) Toyota 1:16.594
18. Enrique Bernoldi (Bra) Arrows-Cosworth 1:16.645
19. Mika Salo (Fin) Toyota 1:16.685
20. Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) Jaguar-Cosworth 1:17.077
21. Mark Webber (Aus) Minardi-Asiatech 1:17.996
Eliminated: Alex Yoong (Mas) Minardi-Asiatech 1:19.775