Montoya's record lap piles on pressure to win

Finally, it's official: Keke Rosberg is no longer the fastest man in Formula One qualifying. Yesterday afternoon, in the heat of Monza's historic amphitheatre, the 1982 world champion had that accolade taken from him after 17 years.

Back in 1985, the Finn lapped Silverstone in 1min 05.591sec, an average speed of 259.005kmh (160.938mph). In those far-flung days he then jumped out of the cockpit, shrugged off the slow puncture that had left one of his rear tyres flat by the time he stopped, and nonchalantly lit up a fag.

Yesterday, in a very different kind of Williams car, powered not by a turbo-charged Honda V6 burping out close to 1,000bhp but a V10 BMW that screams its head off at a record-setting 19,050rpm, Juan Pablo Montoya added his seventh pole position of the 2002 season to his tally and grabbed a little slice of history for himself.

Michael Schumacher set the pace initially for today's Italian GP, but Montoya was always in touch and edged close to the magic 1:20.514 lap that he needed to beat Rosberg's record. At 1.51pm he went into The Lap, and ended it with the clocks stopped on 1:20.264, or 259.827kmh (161.484mph). Making it sweeter still, the world champion's subsequent efforts not only fell short of Montoya's, but also failed to overtake Rosberg.

There was a general feeling here that it was good that the German was for once denied a "best-ever" tag in a season that has yielded virtually everything else to him. Bridgestone are a very long way from finished, but since Spa a fortnight ago there have been the faint stirrings of a resurgence by Michelin. Time was when the French tyres needed serious ambient and track temperatures before they could give their best; but in Belgium, and again here, it was the Japanese manufacturer's runners who were praying for more sun. Where most of the Michelin teams – BMW Williams, McLaren Mercedes, Renault, Jaguar, Toyota and Minardi – opted for the usual format of an out lap, a fast lap and a slowing-down lap, most of the Bridgestone teams – Ferrari, Sauber Petronas, BAR Honda and Jordan Honda – ran two fast laps just to generate heat in their tyres.

Schumacher admitted that he wasn't surprised by the outcome. "Given that the Williams were very quick here," he said, "I can say we should be happy with second and fourth places, especially as Ralf could have been quicker if it had not been for the red flags at the end. We are not quick enough in qualifying trim, but we can be tomorrow in the race itself, when I think the lap times will be much closer."

The red flags came out when Kimi Raikkonen, fifth quickest for McLaren and just about to launch his final attempt, failed to see Takuma Sato's Jordan alongside and inadvertently pushed the Japanese driver off the road at the second chicane. The Finn's team-mate, David Coulthard, had to be content with seventh, edged out by Eddie Irvine. Officials later swapped the positions of Raikkonen and Irvine due to the incident. Coulthard struggled to find a good balance all weekend, but Irvine was delighted that Jaguar's Friday promise carried over to qualifying on a circuit where the value of his Cosworth V10 engine was for once able to overcome the shortcomings of his Jaguar chassis. With Pedro de la Rosa eighth fastest, it was a good day for the leaping cats.

Montoya was delighted. "It was a good fight with Ralf and Michael and I am pleased to be on pole. We knew we would be at ease on this track from the start and we haven't needed to change the car too much during the weekend. The tyres are very consistent and we have found a good balance for our car."

There is another bit of history that he desperately wants to shed this afternoon. Nobody has ever set so many pole positions in a season without winning at least one race. Thus far, Montoya has only won once, here in the subdued aftermath of 11 September last year. Victory today would do very nicely for the Colombian and get the monkey off his back, but coincidentally it would give the sport the anti-Ferrari injection that even the tifosi seem to believe it desperately needs.