Disappointment was the predominant emotion felt in the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro garage after this yesterday afternoon's qualifying session, held at the earlier than usual time of 13h00 local time to fit in better with European broadcast times and TV coverage of the World Cup. Any enjoyment Michael Schumacher might have derived from knowing that Germany has secured a place in the quarter finals by beating Sweden a short while before the qualifying session, will be tempered by the fact he will start tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix from fifth place on the grid. A continuing lack of grip was the German's main concern, a problem he shared with team-mate Felipe Massa who took the tenth spot on the grid.

With a long race in prospect on a track where brakes and engines can encounter difficulties, where driver mistakes are penalised heavily by the proximity of the walls and most importantly, where overtaking is much more prevalent than at many other circuits, the Scuderia can still be hopeful of salvaging something from this situation when tomorrow's race gets underway, also one hour than usual, at 13h00.

The capacity crowd will witness an all-blue front row as series leader Fernando Alonso secured his fifth consecutive pole position to start fractionally ahead of his Renault team-mate, Giancarlo Fisichella. The second row sees the McLaren-Mercedes of Kimi Raikkonen in third spot and the Toyota of Jarno Trulli, fourth. Alongside Michael is sixth placed Nico Rosberg in the Williams. Felipe Massa shares row five with fellow Brazilian, Rubens Barrichello.

Jean Todt: "A very difficult qualifying for us. One car in fifth place and the other in tenth in no way represents the positions we were aiming for. Tomorrow, the decisive parameters will be the usual ones: strategy, consistent tyre performance and reliability. On top of that, there could be the possibility of exploiting our top speed when attempting to overtake, a move that is a bit easier here than elsewhere. We will do our best to bring home as many points as possible for both Championships."

Michael Schumacher: "Obviously, we can't be happy with this result, especially in the light of the championship situation. We have made some progress compared with yesterday, but we are still suffering from a lack of grip. This could be down to the car, the tyres or the set-up: at the moment we cannot be sure which. What is sure is that starting from fifth on the grid we can expect a very tough race."
 

 
"Seventy laps are a lot and yes, anything can happen. For our part, all we can do is give it our best shot and try and exploit any opportunity that presents itself."

Felipe Massa: "It was a difficult day. We did not manage to find the ideal balance for the car and we continue to suffer from quite a lack of grip, especially on the first flying lap. The result of all this is that I will find myself starting from the fifth row and therefore with a rather complicated race ahead of me. Thanks to the strategy and to the fact that overtaking is possible here, we will try and move up the order. It's a long race and anything could happen."

Ross Brawn: "We were prepared for a difficult qualifying, but this result is worse than expected. We thought it would be tough to fight for the top places on the grid, so we tried to put ourselves in as strong a position as possible for tomorrow's race. Our cars have a very good top speed and we will try and make the most of that. Today, we were unable to be quick over a single timed lap, but the Bridgestone tyres offer consistent performance and this could play an important role during the race."

Qualifying session: Michael Schumacher: 5th 1.15.986 16 laps chassis 254; Felipe Massa: 10th 1.17.209 16 laps chassis 250; Temperatures: air 24/26°C track 38/42°C