As Ferrari managing director Jean Todt pointed out, the top six cars on the grid are covered by just half a second. The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers are to be found on the front and second rows of the grid, with Michael Schumacher second and Felipe Massa fourth.

While the German felt this was acceptable, the Brazilian was disappointed. Schumacher only lost out on pole by two thousandths of a second to Kimi Raikkonen, who for the second year in succession set the quickest qualifying lap at Monza in his McLaren-Mercedes. Last year though he was penalised and started further back on the grid. As for Felipe, he felt he lost around three tenths of a second when he was held up behind the Renault of reigning world champion Fernando Alonso. Both men were summoned to give their version of events to the Race Stewards, but at the time of writing no action has been taken.

Third fastest and therefore just ahead of Felipe on row 2 was a surprised Nick Heidfeld in the BMW-Sauber, while Jenson Button rounded off the top six for Honda. The first part of the session was delayed by a red flag, when Yamamoto went off the track in his Super Aguri. A large crowd turned out at Monza, in what is warmer than usual weather that is due to continue tomorrow. Among the crowd, employees of Ferrari and their families and, making his usual Saturday visit to the Temple of Speed, company president, Luca di Montezemolo.

By virtue of the high speed nature of this circuit, tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix should be the shortest, timewise, of the year, as last season's event was all over in one hour and fourteen minutes. The F1 media and probably fans everywhere might actually want it to end as soon as possible as Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has announced that it will explain some of its plans and therefore driver line-up for 2007 once the race is over.

Jean Todt: "Qualifying was as close fought as it was exciting. The top six are all within half a second, which bears witness to how evenly matched it is, although we have to bear in mind the unknowns in terms of the various fuel loads. Michael drove a great lap, losing out on pole by just two thousandths. But what matters is his position relative to his rival in the title fight. A shame for Felipe, who could have been on the front row but for his encounter with traffic on his final run. We are perfectly aware just how important is the outcome of this race in terms of the fight for both titles. For our part, we know we can count on having a very competitive car and on the support of our technical partners, first and foremost, Bridgestone and Shell. The decisive factors tomorrow?
 

"The usual ones, which means reliability, tyre performance, strategy, team work and the bravura of the drivers. One element that is different here is that we can count on the support of our home fans who are here at this track in greater numbers than we have ever seen in one of our two home Grands Prix. Swelling their ranks are the members of our staff and their families and seeing them here cheering us on is very gratifying."

Michael Schumacher: "The car worked well, running strongly and consistently and this is a good position to be in. But, it would have been nice to be on pole here at home in front of the tifosi and it was very close losing it by just two thousandths of a second, but tomorrow is the more important date. I am also happy for Nick, as it is nice to see another German on the qualifying "podium." Fernando? Of course it is better than if he was next to me or in front of me! It does not look too bad for the championship and it would be nice if tomorrow's result was like today's or hopefully even a little bit better."

Felipe Massa: "Fourth place is not so bad, but it's a shame I was unable to exploit the full potential available to me. In fact, on Q3 on my last run, I came up behind Alonso who was also setting out on his quick lap. I lost at least three tenths! It's a shame, because I felt capable of putting it on the front row. But, having said that, I think that our strategy and our package we can expect a good result, which will be vital in the fight for the two titles."

Ross Brawn: "We were very pleased with the car at the test and also so far this weekend. We have a strong strategy and I think it will evolve well during the race, so I am very happy with the way qualifying went for Michael. However, I am bit disappointed for Felipe, because he got held up by traffic in Q3 on his second run. A shame, as he could have improved, because he was quicker in T1 and T2 than on his earlier attempts. But the cars are very good, the Bridgestone tyre performance is consistent and we can also count on the support of an exceptional technical partner in the shape of Shell, so there is a lot to look forward to tomorrow, especially when you look at where our closest rivals are."

Qualifying session: Michael Schumacher: 2nd 1.21.486 10 laps chassis 255; Felipe Massa: 4° 1.21.704 10 laps chassis 252; Temperatures: air 28 °C track 40 °C