Rubens Barrichello will start on pole position for tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix at Monza after pulling off Formula One's fastest-ever qualifying lap today.
Barrichello put newly-crowned world champion Michael Schumacher in the shade on Ferrari's home turf with a superb lap which left his team-mate half a second down the road and earned him a piece of Formula One history.
Barrichello's lap of one minute 20.089 seconds is the fastest pole position time in Formula One history.
Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, who was the fastest in this morning's first practice session, had held the record after a blistering effort in 2002, before new regulations came in to force drivers to qualify with several laps of fuel in the tank.
Montoya did his best to keep the mark but was 0.531secs behind Barrichello on his way to second for Williams.
Schumacher, who suffered a major testing accident last week at Monza, was afraction further back in third with Renault's Fernando Alonso fourth.
Jenson Button suffered the rare indignity of being outqualified by BAR team-mate Takuma Sato, who took fourth to the Englishman's fifth.
David Coulthard will start 10th for McLaren, three places behind team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who won two weeks ago in Belgium.
Filed by Séamus Leonard
