It was Renault who headed into the session with confidence buoyed after Fernando Alonso recorded the fastest time in Saturday morning practice.

However the Spaniard’s challenge faded and it was Montoya who claimed pole position.

Surprisingly Alonso was even outpaced by his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella.

The Italian recorded the third fastest time but due to an earlier engine change will be demoted to 13th on the grid.

Jarno Trulli was fourth fastest after a spectacular lap in his Toyota.

Trulli’s teammate Ralf Schumacher had already impressed after recording a time for provisional pole.

However, the pace of his counterpart, who once again demonstrated his qualifying genius, humbled the German.

Ralf eventually slipped to sixth, one place behind a disappointed Alonso and ahead of his brother Michael.

Sauber’s Felipe Massa rounded out the top eight.

At the other end of the timesheets Minardi close to embarrassed their arch rivals Jordan who finished the afternoon some five seconds off the pace.

Both Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan struggled for any sort of grip allowing Robert Doornbos and Christijan Albers to comfortably finish ahead.