Nick Heidfeld of Williams took his first pole position in Formula One by setting the quickest time in qualifying for the European Grand Prix on Saturday. Going out second last in blistering heat at his home track, Heidfeld clocked 1:30.081 to edge out McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen by 0.116 seconds.‘‘It’s fantastic’’, said Heidfeld, who was second in Monaco last week. ‘‘The first time I’ve had pole position in Formula One and at my home race at the Nuerburgring, it couldn’t be better.’’‘‘After Monaco, I thought it would be more difficult here. I thought we would probably be on the second row.’’ Finn Raikkonen, who was on pole for the last three races and won two of them, will join the German on the front row for Sunday’s race with Heidfeld’s Australian team mate Mark Webber and Toyota’s Jarno Trulli sharing the second row.Championship leader Fernando Alonso was sixth fastest for Renault and will be on row three with Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, who was fifth. World champion Michael Schumacher, the winner from pole position here last year, had another disappointing day and will be on the fifth row of the grid in 1Oth place.Narain Karthikeyan is in the last row, one place ahead of Minardi’s Christijan Albers. He also had a far from satisfactory performance in the practice sessions, finishing 16th and 19th.Qualifying for the seventh round of the 19-race championship was held over a single session because of widespread dissatisfaction with the format run in the previous six rounds, when there was a second session on the morning of the race.Raikkonen, who trails Alonso by 22 points in the drivers’ standings, said not having his rival in the front two rows was a boost but that the new qualifying system made the grid less of an indication of how the race might go.‘‘Before you all went on light fuel but now we don’t know what strategy other teams are on’’, he said. ‘‘It’s better to have a Williams up here rather than the Renault, but maybe they have more fuel.’’
