World champion Schumacher eventually saw off the challenge of Ralf's Williams BMW to power to a sixth pole in a row in his Ferrari, just two off the record set by Ayrton Senna in 1988 and 89.

Now the 32-year-old believes he can become the first driver since Alberto Ascari in 1953 to notch up a sixth successive victory and move within three of the Italian's record winning streak.

"As long as we can get a good start we should be able to get out in front and stay there," warned Schumacher, who won the opening race in Australia last week. "It will not be easy to overtake us here."

Schumacher was eventually joined on the front row by team-mate Rubens Barrichello who displaced Ralf in the dying seconds of the session which took place with temperatures again in the 40s.

But qualifying was all about the battle of the boys from Kerpen who went head-to-head for the first time since Ralf joined Michael in the Formula One ranks in 1997.

Three times 25-year-old Ralf powered his Williams to the top of the timesheets as he looked to score the team's first pole since Jacques Villeneuve at the European Grand Prix in Jerez, Spain in 1997.

But each time Michael responded and when the triple champion opened up a gap of 0.029 seconds with his final run Ralf knew he would not be able to successfully respond and afforded himself a rueful smile in the cockpit.

"It was great to be fighting with my brother," said Michael. "I think our parents heartbeat must have been high and that they were more nervous than us.

"But it was a fun session and it was great to see him up there. It does not matter where our challenge comes from, but I would rather it comes from him because I know him better than the others."

The battle between the brothers, whose parents were back home, is unlikely to be the last with Williams getting back to their former best with Juan Pablo Montoya also sixth in only his second qualifying session.

But the younger Schumacher, who equalled his best qualifying display from France in 1997, insists he will not be challenging for victory in tomorrow's 55-lap encounter.

"We are pretty close to the Ferraris, but it will be different in the race," said Schumacher, who was involved in the crash with BAR's Jacques Villeneuve that resulted in the death of a marshal in Melbourne two weeks ago.

"I won't be battling with them but concentrating on my own race. They still have a gap and as we saw in the last race in Australia they were playing with the others in qualifying and were well ahead of the rest."