SHANGHAI (AFP) - Rubens Barrichello claimed pole position for Ferrari in Sunday's inaugural Chinese Grand Prix, but teammate Michael Schumacher will start from the back after spectacularly spinning his car.
The Brazilian, who won in Italy two weeks ago, will be joined on the front row of the grid by McLaren-Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen with Jenson Button in the BAR-Honda third and Felipe Massa, driving a Sauber, in fourth.
It was his third pole of the season and he negotiated the tricky 3.387 miles (5.451 kilometre) Shanghai International Circuit in one min 34.012 secs, a whisker ahead of Raikkonen, who won in Belgium.
But it was a disaster for Schumacher who lost control on turn one in ideal conditions as he pushed too hard to try and reel in his teammate.
The rare error saw the German world champion's car slide away from him and career backwards onto the gravel. He was unhurt and drove back to the pit lane but will have his work cut out Sunday.
Schumacher refused to accept it was his fault.
"We need to find an explanation for it, there no obvious indication of what happened," he said.
"I don't want to say it's not a mistake of mine if it turns out to be, but I would be surprised."
Despite the setback, he is not giving up hope of salvaging something from the race.
"If you know me I never give up," he said. "I don't need to test my driving ability, but it is certainly interesting to do what I have to do from where I am now."
Barrichello said he was dumbstruck at what happened but warned the world's top driver could not be ruled out of contention even from the back.
"I think the right word is that I was shocked," said Barrichello.
"It doesn't happen very often. I stayed 20 seconds without words. I didn't know what to say," he added.
"This is a phenomenal circuit and you can make mistakes -- big ones. Turn one to two is difficult to find the line. But for me it was good enough and I'm happy."
Barichello acknowledged it appears unrealistic to expect a 13th season victory from his teammate, but said he could still make the points.
"Obviously he'll have a tougher race but we've seen this year people starting from the back and finishing in the top six," he said.
"Whether he can win the race obviously will be very difficult."
Button had been holding the top spot until Barrichello and Raikkonen came out but he said he was happy with third as BAR battle Renault for second place in the constructors championships.
"We struggled with the set up this morning but in the end we got there. To be third for tomorrow I'm reasonably happy," he said.
His teammate Takuma Sato was ninth but will start near the back after picking up a 10 place grid demotion after the car's engine was changed during practice Friday.
Renault's Fernando Alonso was sixth but Jacques Villeneuve, back after almost a year away since being dumped by BAR, struggled to 13th.
Massa put in a supreme drive to give Sauber-Petronas fourth on the grid while Ralf Schumacher in the Williams secured sixth for his first Grand Prix since fracturing vertebrae three months ago.
His teammate Juan Carlos Montoya will start 10th.
Giancarlo Fisichella in the other Sauber was seventh while Olivier Panis driving a Toyota was eighth. McLaren-Mercedes driver David Coulthard rounded out the top ten.
Massa said he was over the moon and attributed his best grid position of the year to the Bridgestone tyres.
"For me it was almost perfect qualifying," he said. "It is was this good for me in qualifying, I know that it can be stronger still when the track is in even better condition tomorrow."
Despite Schumacher's error, the drivers have praised the state-of-the-art track here and say it will offer plenty of overtaking opportunities -- none more so than out of turn 13 which leads into a three-quarter mile straight, the longest on the circuit.
There are also a lot of tight corners, as Schumacher discovered, and some drivers are still struggling for grip. Gianmaria Bruni in a Minardi also lost control and will join the German in row 10.
Organisers expect 160,000 people for the milestone event Sunday and while the circuit was not packed Saturday, there were enough spectators to suggest they'll be back to see what Schumacher can do.