The inside of the third row for Michael Schumacher and the inside of the fourth row for his Scuderia Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who set the fifth and seventh fastest times respectively, in this afternoon’s qualifying session. This looks like being a solid basis on which to build a strong race tomorrow, especially as the world champion reckoned he had set his time with a fuel load that was either heavier than his rivals or at least closer to their fuel load than was the case in Canada a week ago. Being able to run a longer first stint in the race is nearly always an advantage. Both Ferrari drivers will also have the advantage of starting from the clean side of the track, which is a more significant advantage than at some other tracks.

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli took his first pole of the season, qualifying just 69 thousandths of a second quicker than second placed Kimi Raikkonen in the McLaren-Mercedes. The second row sees Jenson Button in third place for BAR-Honda, with the Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella alongside him, while the second Renault of Fernando Alonso lines up next to Michael. Rubens has Takuma Sato in the BAR-Honda for company on row four. Although Trulli was delighted with pole, it was not all good news for Toyota today. After Ralf Schumacher’s accident yesterday, FIA the chief medical delegate decided the German should not take part in the rest of the weekend. The accident was caused by a tyre failure and other teams running on the same brand of tyre – not the one used by Ferrari – have also seen signs of a potential problem. All the parties concerned, including the FIA are holding a meeting this afternoon to find the best and of course the safest solution to this difficulty for tomorrow’s race.

Jean Todt : “Strategy, reliability, consistent performance from the tyres – these will be, as usual in fact, the decisive factors in tomorrow’s race. If we can operate at a maximum level for all these elements, then I am sure we can aspire to a good result. Now, we just have to see if we can attain this objective.”
 

Michael Schumacher : “I am quite happy with my qualifying performance and actually, fifth place is better than fourth on this grid as the other side is dirtier. Although I am not really sure why, it was already clear yesterday that we seem to be more competitive here than at some of the other tracks we have visited this year. I hope that we will find out tomorrow that we qualified with a heavier fuel load than our rivals, or at least closer in terms of fuel load than we were in Canada and I am hopeful of finishing on the podium tomorrow. As for Ralf, I spoke to him this morning and I think the decision not to race is the right one.”

Rubens Barrichello : “I think we had a good qualifying, even if we could have done a bit better. However, a place on the fourth row is not that bad, as it is possible to overtake at this track. I expect that, as we have seen so far, we will be stronger in the race. That has been our strong point this season and also in the past at this circuit.”

Ross Brawn : “We are reasonably happy with qualifying, Once again, we know we don’t quite have the performance level over a single lap, but the Bridgestone tyres were very consistent in this morning’s practice, so we can look forward to a good race. We just have to hope our drivers don’t get stuck behind anyone at the start, because if Kimi makes a break at the front and we are trapped, it could be difficult. We can have a strong race and we have a good strategy for tomorrow.”

Qualifying session: Michael Schumacher: 5th 1.11.369 3 laps chassis 245; Rubens Barrichello: 7th 1.11.431 3 laps chassis 246; Temperatures: air 23° C, track 32° C