Felipe Massa gave Ferrari a welcome lift by qualifying on pole for tomorrow's French Grand Prix.
The Maranello marque have struggled of late, but Massa just pipped championship leader Lewis Hamilton of McLaren to top spot with a lap of one minute 15.034 seconds for the 4.411km circuit.
The second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen will start third, with double world champion Fernando Alonso in 10th due to a mechanical problem with his McLaren.
Alonso had also endured a troubled morning as he spent most of the hour in the garage as mechanics had to replace the brake-sensor system.
It was not until the dying minutes the Spaniard finally emerged on track, so when a problem occurred at the start of Q3, it was clear the gremlins had bitten again.
For Alonso, it was his lowest qualifying position since September's Italian Grand Prix, and if the problem means an engine change the 25-year-old Spaniard will be down in 20th.
It left Massa celebrating his fourth pole of the season and the seventh of his career, in particular after Hamilton had been fastest in Q1 and Q2.
The 22-year-old Briton, who leads the title race by 10 points from Alonso and 19 from Massa, posted the quickest time of the weekend in Q2 with a 1:14.795. But he missed out to Massa by 0.07secs in Q3, although at least separated the Ferraris.
Behind Raikkonen came Robert Kubica for BMW Sauber, followed by the Renaults of Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen. Nick Heidfeld iss seventh in the second BMW Sauber, with Jarno Trulli eighth in his Toyota, while the Williams of Nico Rosberg is ninth.
The unreliability of the Red Bulls again came home to roost, in this instance to the detriment of David Coulthard. The 36-year-old Scot had run in the top 10 in each of the three practice sessions, and easily appeared on course for something similar in qualifying.
However, a mechanical problem on his outlap in Q2 prevented him from setting a time in the second 15-minute session and he will start in 16th.
Just ahead of Coulthard was Scott Speed for Toro Rosso and Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, while the Hondas of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello are 12th and 13th, with Ralf Schumacher for Toyota in 11th.
At the back of the grid there are no great surprises, with the Spykers of Christijan Albers and Adrian Sutil bringing up the rear.
At least for Dutchman Albers he will not be starting last as has been the case in the last three races, and five over all this season.
The Toro Rosso of Tonio Liuzzi and Alex Wurz in the Williams are 17th and 18th, with the Super Aguris of Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson 19th and 20th.
For Davidson, who broke the nose of his car on the left-rear tyre of Liuzzi's Toro Rosso in the pitlane in practice yesterday, it was his worst qualifying performance of the season.
Hamilton was happy to be on the front row but believes he blew a great chance for his third straight pole.
He said on ITV1: 'You can't be perfect all the time. But I think the team did a fantastic job.
'I had the car to be pole and I lost a bit of time on turn 15. I had it there but it would have been a mega-lap. That's the way the game goes. We're on the front row and we have a very good strategy for tomorrow.'
