LEADING QUALIFYING TIMES 1 M Schumacher 1:24.408 2 R Barrichello 1:24.482 3 J P Montoya 1:24.998 4 J Button 1:24.998 5 F Alonso 1:25.699 6 M Webber 1:25.805 7 T Sato 1:25.851 8 R Schumacher 1:25.925 9 J Trulli 1:26.290 10 K Raikkonen 1:26.297 Qualifying times in full Lap Albert Park with Jarno Trulli Photos from Melbourne

The world champion headed team-mate Rubens Barrichello by 0.074 seconds for a Ferrari one-two in Melbourne.

Schumacher's lap of one minute 24.482 seconds was 0.590secs ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams in third, on the same time as Jenson Button's BAR.

Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard were 10th and 12th for McLaren.

Fernando Alonso was fifth fastest for Renault, ahead of the Jaguar of Mark Webber and the second BAR of Takuma Sato.

Montoya's Williams team-mate Ralf Schumacher could manage only eighth fastest, ahead of the second Renault of Jarno Trulli.

Montoya was classified ahead of Button because the Williams had set the faster time in the first qualifying session.

Ferrari play down advantage

McLaren's poor performance was a surprise - Raikkonen had been fourth fastest in the first qualifying session, just 0.366secs off quickest man Montoya.

Ferrari's superiority was not as marked as it had appeared to be in practice on Friday, but their pace will still worry their rivals.

Schumacher's lap was the fastest ever set at Melbourne's Albert Park track - and 2.765secs quicker than his pole position time from 2003.

The 35-year-old said he had a "very good feeling" about Ferrari's new car.

I was amazed with the time I set in the first qualifying, but then I tried too hard in the second and made a mistake Juan Pablo Montoya

But both he and technical director Ross Brawn warned about reading too much into the times set in qualifying.

Brawn said the true performance of the cars would only become apparent in the race.

That is because teams have to qualify with the fuel load with which they are to start the race, meaning some cars could be heavier - and therefore slower - than others.

Montoya said he had made a mistake on his qualifying lap and was hopeful of pushing the Ferraris in the race.

"I was amazed with the time I set in the first qualifying, but then I tried too hard in the second and made a mistake on the third sector and lost the advantage," the Colombian said.

"I was a bit surprised with the problems we had yesterday with the car to really make it work, we had to do a lot of changes.

"Today I'm a lot happier with the car and I think I have a really good race car and that's the most important thing.

"Williams usually struggle here on Friday and Saturday and by Sunday we have a really quick car, so hopefully this will be the case tomorrow. The tyres are working really good."