2. Fernando Alonso (Renault)

3. Mark Webber (Williams)

4. Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault)

5. Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren)

6. Nick Heidfeld (Williams)

7. Jarno Trulli (Toyota)

8. David Coulthard (Red Bull)

1300: Raikkonen slowly but surely eats into Alonso's time. It just gets better and better as he cross the line 0.481 seconds quicker than Alonso and almost a full second quicker than third-placed man Webber. An awesome effort, which will leave all the other teams on the grid anxious for Sunday's race.

1258: Raikkonen's the last man out there desperate to catch Alonso.

1257: Renault rider Fernando Alonso produces an all-or-nothing qualifying lap. And he totally blitzes his rivals, clocking in more than half-a-second quicker than Webber. A breathtaking lap of 1:14.125.

1254: Trulli dodges the normally racing line to avoid the after effects of Schumacher's accident. It sees him slip to fifth in the standings. Good news for Webber, bad news for Toyota.

1251: Trulli has been given the all clear to come back on the track. He will get going in two minutes.

1247: Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen - the only men yet to go - remain in their cars while the marshals finish off the track clean-up.

1243: The clean-up operation is in earnest for Ralf Schumacher's crash. There is debris and oil everywhere. Sand and concrete dust is now being laid over it. This could affect the remaining few runners.

1235: Ralf Schumacher has a belter of a crash, so the session is red flagged. He'd earlier come close to shaving the barriers and finally made contact with his inside left front tyre. He rips out almost the entire right flank of his Toyota as he bounces across the road. He'll now have to start from the back of the grid.

1233: The first Renault comes out - Giancarlo Fisichella. They're expected to be the form team this weekend. But the Italian's burst is not enough to catch Webber due to a few understeer problems.

1231: Mark Webber is the latest man out through the twists and turns of the street circuit. His effort is committed and disciplined, and he goes top by about three-tenths.

1229: Juan Pablo Montoya has spent much of the build-up to qualifying talking to officials over his possible involvement in the three-way crash of Coulthard, Schumacher and Villeneuve. A decision will be made later on Saturday. But he looks unfazed as he blitzes his lap - the first man under 1:15.

1227: Coulthard had looked set to move into the top spot but just slowed a little in the final section. His time of 1:15.329 is enough for second.

1225: David Coulthard is showing few effects of the accident he got caught in with both Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher in the second practice session.

1222: Rubens Barrichello goes out on track in a bid to better his team-mate. The Brazilian had earlier confessed he expected to be lapped come race-time. His qualifying pace would seem to back that up. He goes third... for now.

1220: Heidfeld, unsurprisingly, shows better pace than the rest of the challengers so far. Surprisingly, though, he is eight-tenths of a second quicker than Villeneuve.

1218: Felipe Massa struggles with grip throughout in the Sauber and, as a result, slots in behind Schumacher. He was some way off team-mate Villeneuve with that run.

1216: There's been a lot of rumour over the future of the Jordan team this weekend. Tiago Monteiro does little to erase that with his lap of 1:19.408 - a poor lap in anyone's books.

1214: Narain Karthikeyan has a somewhat pointless qualifying session. He's already been docked 10 places on the grid for an engine change so effectively moves to the bottom of the standings.

1210: Jacques Villeneuve forgets his accident from the earlier practice session to move ahead of Schumacher in the order.

1207: Defending world champion Michael Schumacher comes out for what proves a decidely pedestrian qualifying lap. His time of 1.16.186 takes him to the top of the timesheets but he certainly won't stay there.