Silverstone is the 10th time in 11 attempts that Trulli, 31 next Wednesday, has qualified his Toyota TF105 in the first five. He will actually start tomorrow’s race with only three cars in front of him because Kimi Raikkonen, who qualified second, must move 10 places back on the grid as a result of an engine failure.

“It was a good lap,” Trulli said, “although I think I could perhaps have been even further forward. I was just seven hundredths behind Juan Pablo Montoya and that was with a touch of understeer. But we’ve had a good weekend so far, I’m confident that we have a good race set-up and I’m hopeful that we can have a stronger race than we had in Magny-Cours.”

Trulli lapped the 5.141km circuit in 1m20.459s, half a second behind pole position man Fernando Alonso’s Mild Seven Renault (1m19.905s). Raikkonen set the second fastest time for West McLaren Mercedes (1m19.932s) and Jenson Button (1m20.207s) was third quickest for Lucky Strike BAR Honda in front of his home fans. Juan Pablo Montoya (1m20.382s) was fourth in the second McLaren-Mercedes, ahead of Jarno, with Rubens Barrichello’s Ferrari (1m20.906s) completing the top six.

Ralf Schumacher (1m21.191s) will line up eighth on the grid after taking the 9th fastest time with the second Toyota TF105, just 0.084s quicker than his seven times world champion brother Michael in the second Ferrari.

“My lap was pretty clean and good even if it was nothing special,” Ralf said. “We were very quick in practice this morning, third and fourth fastest, and it would seem that we can run at a similar pace to Renault and Ferrari even if McLaren looks a little superior. We seem to be in good shape and should be aiming for strong points in the race.”

Technical Director, Chassis, Mike Gascoyne, added: “We have had two very good days concentrating on a strategy very much aimed at the race. Jarno did another excellent job and Ralf is solidly in the top 10, even if he struggled a little with lack of grip. I think that strong points are the aim and we should not rule out the possibility of another podium.”