The Finn, who drives for McLaren, took his rivals to the cleaners in what was one of the performances of the year.

Starting his lap with just a three thousandth of a second lead, Raikkonen appeared oblivious to the pressure as he posted the fastest time of the day – by half a second.

Fernando Alonso, who had been on pole position at the previous two events, was forced to settle for second position.

Raikkonen’s qualifying victory ending Renault’s run of three pole positions in succession.

Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher was meant to follow his rivals home, but instead the German will start the afternoon race from a lowly 14th position.

Schumacher, a seven-time world champion, came unstuck during the final sector of his lap, running wide and Rivazza and losing more than three seconds.

Instead it will be BAR’s Jenson Button who will line up in third.

The Briton couldn’t repeat his pole-position performance from 2004 but was nonetheless happy with his two-position gain.

Williams’ Mark Webber remained fourth, ahead of Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and BAR’s Takuma Sato.

Sato was one of the session’s biggest movers, moving up five positions after a fantastic lap.

Christijan Albers provided the other drama when he span off the circuit in the second sector.

The Dutchman ended up in the barriers, his Minardi luckily escaping with only cosmetic damage.

Overall it was a dramatic and exciting qualifying session that provided some surprises.

Raikkonen’s pace suggests he was running a light fuel load, which gives his rivals hope for the race.