Seventh heaven for Schumacher

Michael Schumacher scorched to his seventh pole position in a row at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo.  

Schumacher's younger brother Ralf was second fastest for Williams - the first time the German duo have occupied the front row of the grid.

The world champion's domination of the qualifying session for Ferrari moved him within one of equalling the all-time record for successive poles set by Ayrton Senna over the 1988/89 seasons.

Finland's Mika Hakkinen was third fastest with team-mate David Coulthard fifth as the McLaren pair were split by Juan Pablo Montoya in the other Williams.

Rubens Barrichello had to settle for sixth spot in the other Ferrari in a setback to his hopes of becoming the first Brazilian to win his home race since Senna in 1993.

Eddie Irvine was 13th for Jaguar Racing but Jenson Button's miserable return to the Interlagos track where he became the youngest driver in history to score a championship point last year continued.

Button finished in 20th spot for Benetton, his worst qualifying performance since he finished 21st when he made his grand prix debut for Williams in Australia last season.

Schumacher had been only fifth fastest in final practice but suspicions that Ferrari were holding back and not using fresh tyres were confirmed as he blasted his way to the 35th pole of his career.

It will be the first time he starts on pole in Brazil but the 32-year-old German looks set to complete a seventh win on the trot in tomorrow's 71-lap race.

That would leave Schumacher, whose three previous victories in Brazil were all in his championship-winning years, just two away from equalling the 48-year-old record set by Italy's Alberto Ascari.

Schumacher, who already leads the drivers' standings by 10 points from Barrichello and Schumacher, was only briefly threatened by Hakkinen, who got within 0.888 seconds of his early time.

But the Swiss-born racer then went even quicker with brother Ralf taking second spot, the best qualifying performance of his career.

Monaco-based Ralf finished 0.3secs adrift and just fractions ahead of Hakkinen. Montoya and Coulthard were also within 0.4secs of the pole-sitter.

Montoya's hopes of following up his unexpected top spot in final practice were dashed when he slid off the track at a tight left-handed corner on his first qualifying run.

The Colombian's Williams skidded and bumped along the gravel for a couple of hundred yards before finally coming to a stop in a setback that clearly infuriated technical director Patrick Head.

Montoya had to make the long run back to the pits in the mid-afternoon heat as mechanics hurriedly worked to set up the spare car for him, but responded to claim the best starting spot of his three-race career.