MELBOURNE, March 8 (UPI) -- Ferrari's Michael Schumacher finished ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello to earn his 51st career pole position Saturday at the Formula One Australian Grand Prix.
Schumacher, who has won the championship three years in a row for Ferrari and five times overall, is is the all-time leader with 62 Grand Prix victories.
The German clocked a time of 1 minute, 27.173 seconds to take the pole ahead of his Brazilian teammate, who had held provisional top spot after Friday's qualifying.
Juan Pablo Montoya put his Williams on the third spot, alongside the Sauber of Heinz-Harald Frentzen of Germany. Montoya finished last year third in the drivers standings with 50 points. He was runner-up to Schumacher here last year.
Toyota's Olivier Panis of France claimed fifth with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve sixth in his BAR.
