Melbourne, Australia ? Giancarlo Fisichella took the lead in qualifying for Renault before rain caused havoc today at the Australian Grand Prix.

Fisichella had the fastest lap of one minute, 33.171 seconds during preliminary qualifying. A downpour over Albert Park 35 minutes into the session made the track slippery for the last eight drivers, including defending GP and series champion Michael Schumacher.

Fisichella was 2.1 seconds faster than Toyota’s Jarno Trulli. Mark Webber of Williams placed third, and former world champion Jacques Villeneuve of Sauber recovered from a spin to finish fourth.

Felipe Massa was on the track when the heavy rain started and didn’t set a time.

Schumacher was next out in his Ferrari and could only manage 1:57.931 in driving rain — seven seconds behind the slowest Minardi, the regular stragglers.