Raikkonen poised to turn fast getaway into victory

Dr Mario Theissen will face an interesting challenge on Tuesday. That's when the head of BMW Motorsport will try to convince his board in Munich to dump Sir Frank Williams' team - right after their cars finished second and third in last weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, and started today's GP of Europe here from first and third positions.

Dr Mario Theissen will face an interesting challenge on Tuesday. That's when the head of BMW Motorsport will try to convince his board in Munich to dump Sir Frank Williams' team - right after their cars finished second and third in last weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, and started today's GP of Europe here from first and third positions.

No qualifying session so far this year has set up the chess game that is F1, 2005 vintage, quite as well as yesterday's. Nick Heidfeld took the fastest time away from BMW-Williams team-mate Mark Webber, and Monaco winner Kimi Raikkonen failed to beat the young German when his turn came.

"It is fantastic to get my first pole position in Formula One after so many years," said Heidfeld, who only last weekend celebrated his best finish by chasing Raikkonen home. "It is even more so to have achieved it here at my home grand prix in front of my supporters. There is not much more I could have asked for."

That isn't strictly true. Heidfeld and Webber, who is likely to stop only once, would kill for software that can get their cars off the line like McLaren's and Renault's. For Heidfeld, probably on a two-stop strategy, a fast getaway will be crucial, but the odds do not favour him outsprinting his former Sauber team-mate into the long first corner.

While Heidfeld celebrated, and Webber smiled bravely as his young partner received all the adulation, Raikkonen remained his deadpan self. Both he and McLaren team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya, who will start fifth, exuded quiet confidence. The McLaren is still the car to beat. "I know I have a good race car and our strategy should be good," Raikkonen said. "As long as I get a good start we should be looking good to challenge for a win."

Montoya, the closest he has been to the Finn since joining McLaren this season, made a small error on his lap and also complained of low grip, but said: "We have a strong strategy, so I am optimistic for a good race."

Championship leader Fernando Alonso was only sixth fastest but remained upbeat after having chased the McLarens yesterday morning for fastest time in practice. "I think the difference between myself and pole is probably down to some different strategies," he suggested. "I am still confident for tomorrow, and we believe in the choices we have made. I will certainly be aiming for the podium."

The icing on the cake is that as you read this, you are reading the starting order. The unpopular Sunday morning qualifying session has been consigned to the bin. And there is a cherry, too, because Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher in their Toyotas are fourth and eighth, Giancarlo Fisichella in the second Renault is ninth, and Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher in their Ferraris are seventh and 10th. The Brazilian made a mistake on his lap, so the fact that he was still quicker than Schumacher suggests that the champion has plenty of fuel aboard.

"It's hard for me to predict what we can expect," Schumacher said, "because there have been times over this weekend when things did not look too promising. But the same can be said of Monaco and we had great race pace there, so I just plan to push hard and see what happens."

Further back, in 13th place sandwiched between the Red Bulls of David Coulthard and Tonio Liuzzi, Jenson Button's return to active duty for BAR Honda was not quite what he had hoped for. Both he and team-mate Takuma Sato suffered from being the first men out for qualifying. The Nürburgring historically penalises the first to run by 1.3sec and the second by one second, as conditions always improve as the session progresses, so subtracting a second from Button's time would have left him ninth, which would have been a lot better.

"We knew that would hurt us," he said philosophically. "It's not much fun being one of the first cars out. There was very little grip and the balance was not what we expected at all. I had too much understeer, which was a shame because the car felt good this morning. But I am confident that we can make up some ground and be strong in the race."

After his recent setbacks, which included having his podium place in Imola in April disallowed, he desperately needs a solid finish so he can challenge for victory in Canada in a fortnight's time when BAR will have significant engine and aerodynamic modifications to improve their performance.

At the Nürburgring today, however, you would have to be brave not to have a flutter on Raikkonen scoring a hat-trick, even though no fewer than five teams share genuine aspirations to victory.