MONZA, Italy, 12 September 2004 — Rubens Barrichello set the fastest pole position time in the history of Formula One here yesterday as he claimed top spot for Ferrari in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
Brazilian Barrichello, who is hoping to secure second place in the world championship in front of his Italian team’s home fans here this weekend, set a time of one min 20.089 secs in the middle of the session.
“I’m just so happy with the whole thing,” said Barrichello. “The car was really good and I was able to take every bit out of the car.
“The whole weekend the car has shown good potential and I am thrilled — you are never going to have the perfect lap but this was very close to the limit. “Monza is all about getting it right rather than pushing to the limit but I think I was close to the limit in every part of the circuit.”
Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, running last, looked set to snatch a last-gasp pole for Williams-BMW after a strong first part of his lap but he eventually had to settle for second best.
Montoya’s time was 0.531 secs slower than Barrichello’s but it was good enough to push newly-crowned world champion Michael Schuamcher off the front of the grid and prevent an all-Ferrari front row.
“The team has done a really good job — but even if I had run the perfect lap I think Ferrari would have been that little bit faster,” said Montoya. “But we’re on the front row and I think this is very good for the team as a whole.”
Schumacher, who had recovered from a crash in testing last week to set the fastest lap of the weekend until the earlier pre-qualifying session, finished 0.548 secs down in third.
Spaniard Fernando Alonso finished fourth for Renault and will start alongside Schumacher on the second row with Japanese BAR-Honda driver Takuma Sato making it four different teams in the top five with the fifth best lap.
Briton Jenson Button failed to match the pace of his Japanese teammate and finished sixth fastest but will still start ahead of seventh-placed Finn Kimi Raikkonen, of McLaren, who won the last race in Belgium.
Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, in what could be his last race as a replacement for injured German Ralf Schumacher, failed to match the pace of his teammate Montoya and finished down in eighth.
Italian Jarno Trulli, who started from pole position at the last race in Belgium, could not get the best out of his Renault and managed only ninth fastest time with Scot David Coulthard completing the top ten in his McLaren.
