Schumacher takes Spanish pole

Michael Schumacher drove a superb qualify session

Michael Schumacher claimed his first pole of the season for Ferrari at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona on Saturday.

McLaren's David Coulthard had to settle for fourth place in qualifying, just days after his private jet crashed killing both pilots.

Pole position is nice but on the other hand, it's the race that counts

Michael Schumacher

The 29-year-old Scot started the British Grand Prix a fortnight ago in the same spot, but still emerged triumphant and will be hoping to do the same in Sunday's 65-lap battle.

Brazil's Rubens Barrichello was third fastest in the other Ferrari, just 0.006-of-a-second faster than Coulthard, with Ralf Schumacher fifth for Williams and Jacques Villeneuve sixth for British American racing.

David Coulthard finished fourth

Eddie Irvine was 10th for Jaguar Racing, one place ahead of Jenson Button in the other Williams. Johnny Herbert qualified 15th in his Jaguar.

Coulthard, who has proved throughout the weekend that his performance has not suffered any ill effects from the crash, had been forced to abort his first qualifying run when his Mercedes-powered car misfired.

After mechanics worked to fix the problem, Coulthard emerged to take third place less than 0.2sec behind team-mate Hakkinen, but then switched to the spare car.

I firmly believe I will be a stronger person out of this

David Coulthard

Coulthard said: "I am very disappointed because fourth place is not a true reflection of where I have been all weekend.

"I had a fuel pick-up problem and it meant we could either change to the 'T' car which was set-up for Mika or put fuel in my car to balance the problem.

"We decided to put more fuel in, but we compromised on time and I just got slower and slower."

Coulthard was forced into fourth spot by Barrichello even though there was little between the two and the Twynholm-born driver still has a chance of claiming a second successive win.

But Schumacher, who won the opening three races of the season, is looking competitive on a track where he claimed his first win for Ferrari in 1996.

Qualifying results:

1. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari one minute 20.974 seconds 2. Mika Hakkinen (Finland) McLaren 1:21.052
3. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari 1:21.416
4. David Coulthard (Britain) McLaren 1:21.422
5. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Williams 1:21.685
6. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) BAR 1:21.963
7. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Jordan 1:22.006
8. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Germany) Jordan 1:22.135
9. Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) Arrows 1:22.185
10. Eddie Irvine (Britain) Jaguar 1:22.370
11. Jenson Button (Britain) Williams 1:22.385
12. Jos Verstappen (Netherlands) Arrows 1:22.421
13. Mika Salo (Finland) Sauber 1:22.443
14. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Benetton 1:22.569
15. Johnny Herbert (Britain) Jaguar 1:22.781
16. Pedro Diniz (Brazil) Sauber 1:22.841
17. Ricardo Zonta (Brazil) BAR 1:22.882
18. Jean Alesi (France) Prost 1:22.894
19. Alexander Wurz (Austria) Benetton 1:23.010
20. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Prost 1:23.033
21. Marc Gene (Spain) Minardi 1:23.486
22. Gaston Mazzacane (Argentina) Minardi 1:24.257