Ferrari: Raikkonen Pips Alonso for Provisional Pole

Motor Racing: Raikkonen Pips Alonso for Provisional Pole
By REUTERS

Published: April 23, 2005
Filed at 9:23 a.m. ET

IMOLA, Italy (Reuters) - Kimi Raikkonen beat Renault's Formula One
leader Fernando Alonso by the blink of an eye to put McLaren on
provisional pole position for Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix.

The Finnish 'Iceman' lapped Imola's Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit in
one minute 19.886 seconds, just three thousandths quicker than the
Spaniard who is chasing his third pole and victory in a row.

Ferrari's seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher, with just two
points from three races won by Renault, was third quickest in 1:20.260
with Australian Mark Webber fourth for Williams.

``It would have been good to have a little gap between him and me for
tomorrow but we'll see what we can do,'' said Raikkonen.

The starting grid will be decided on aggregate times after Sunday's
final qualifying.

``The car overall is much better than it was in Bahrain,'' added
Raikkonen, who finished third in that last race three weeks ago.

``The conditions seem to suit the car much better than the previous
circuit and it was good yesterday straight out of the box. I'm very
happy with it.''

SCHUMACHER CONFIDENT

Alonso, 10 points clear of Toyota's Italian Jarno Trulli, is in no
danger of losing his championship lead in Italy and was also happy
with the Renault's performance.

``We did our job. Imola has been historically not a perfect circuit
for the Renault but the car is much better this year over the kerbs,''
he said.

``Okay, we are second, but we are still competitive and we are still
fighting for pole and hopefully tomorrow for the victory,'' he added.

Schumacher's time was perhaps more impressive than the others given
that the German had to start much earlier when conditions were less
favorable due to his early retirement in Bahrain.

``We have been showing pretty consistently a strong performance over
the weekend,'' he said.

Ferrari, eclipsed in the first three races, have been working flat out
to iron out problems with their new car after rushing it into action
in Bahrain and Schumacher said they had made big steps.

``The result I think we can see here,'' he said. ``Qualifying sort of
confirms what we have been doing so far and we look forward to the
race. I think we will be there. It's going to be tight and tough but I
think we have an opportunity.''

His Ferrari team mate Rubens Barrichello was 11th. Briton Jenson
Button, who started on pole at Imola last year and finished second in
his best race yet, was fifth fastest for Honda-powered BAR with Trulli
sixth.

Austrian Alexander Wurz, the McLaren test driver qualifying for his
first race in more than four years as a stand-in for injured Colombian
Juan Pablo Montoya, was in eighth place.

Canadian former world champion Jacques Villeneuve was again outpaced
by his Sauber team mate Felipe Massa but is sure to start ahead of the
Brazilian who had his engine changed on Friday night and will suffer a
10-place penalty.

Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi, making his Formula One debut for Red Bull,
was 16th with Alonso's Italian team Giancarlo Fisichella a
disappointing 15th after a big wobble at the Rivazza corner on his
fast lap.