After recording the fastest time in both of Saturday morning’s practice runs, the McLaren star was always going to be hard to beat.

However, despite these expectations the manner of the Finn’s performance was still impressive as he calmly navigated the 4.7 kilometre Hockenheim circuit with the benchmark time of 1:14.320.

The job was not as easy as Raikkonen had made it appear. Juan Pablo Montoya, in the second McLaren, proved as much when he spun off the circuit and into the barriers at the final turn on his flying lap.

With the Colombian absent from the final times – he will start the r ace from the back of the grid - BAR’s Jenson Button stepped up to collect the remaining front row slot.

The Briton put in a solid lap of 1:14.759 but was still almost half a second down on the Raikkonen's pole time.

Renault had hoped to push their title rivals for victory on Sunday but, like Button, Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella were well off the required pace.

They were nonetheless strong and claimed third and fourth positions, however the hopes of a win were all but dashed.

Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher, who was thought to be very light on fuel, put in the fifth fastest time.

Williams returned from their midseason obscurity with Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld qualifying sixth and seventh.

Takuma Sato (BAR), Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Christian Klien (Red Bull) rounded out the top ten.

Minardi provided the other qualifying highlight with the team’s Dutch driver duo of Christijan Albers and Robert Doornbos qualifying ahead of both Jordans in 16th and 17th respectively.

Jordan’s Tiago Monteiro finished two tenths down while his teammate Narain Karthikeyan never set a time after locking up and running off the circuit.

Looking on to Sunday, victory for McLaren and Raikkonen appears to be a mere formality.

BAR’s Jenson Button will likely to be in a fight for second place with the two Renaults.

Rubens Barrichello is a darkhorse in the midfield with his Ferrari full of fuel.

On many occasions this season the Brazilian has used the strategy to finish high up the order.

However, after only managing the 15th fastest time traffic could ruin his plans.

The other point for consideration is the weather. Early forecasts predicted rain on race day but those odds have since lengthened.

It is now likely that Hockenheim will host a dry race, even if there is a shower in the morning.