Jenson Button created a little bit of history during qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix by securing the first pole position of his Formula One career. It was also a first for the B A R-Honda team, which has emerged as a genuine grand prix front-runner since switching to Michelin tyres this year. The 24-year-old Englishman lapped in 1m 19.753s the quickest time of the weekend so far.

Michelin has great strength in depth at the front of the field, with Juan Pablo Montoya (BMW WilliamsF1 Team, third), Ralf Schumacher (BMW WilliamsF1 Team, fifth), Fernando Alonso (Renault, sixth), Takuma Sato (B A R-Honda, seventh), Mark Webber (Jaguar, eighth), Jarno Trulli (Renault, ninth) and Cristiano da Matta (Toyota, 10th) all well placed.

Pierre Dupasquier, Michelin Motorsport Director:

"Our tyres have been quick and durable all weekend and I expect that to continue in the race. I would like to compliment Jenson Button and B A R-Honda on their maiden pole position. It is very satisfying that we have been able to forge such a strong alliance in a relatively short time together. Once again, I think the effectiveness of our Formula One tyres was abundantly clear. The fact we have five partner teams in the top 10 illustrates the point perfectly."

Pascal Vasselon, Michelin F1 Programme Manager:

"Although we tested here in February, we did not rely too much on that data when it came to selecting tyres for this weekend. Conditions back then were simply too cold. We based our choices on the results of last week s test at Paul Ricard and our three dr
y-weather options have all shown themselves to be very well suited to Imola. Between them, our six partner teams will use all three in the race tomorrow."