To the great delight of the noisiest crowd on the Formula 1 calendar, on Saturday local man Felipe Massa took pole position for today's final round of this year's world championship, with a bravura performance at the wheel of his impeccable Ferrari 248 F1.

But if a happy Massa claimed he would remember yesterday for the rest of his life, his Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team-mate, Michael Schumacher found himself re-using a phrase he had delivered after retiring from the Japanese Grand Prix a fortnight ago: "these things happen in racing." Having comfortably made sure of a run in the final part of qualifying, the German left the pits for his last ever qualifying run, only to gradually slow and crawl back to the pit lane with what was later found to be loss of fuel pressure, due a faulty fuel pump. It was a cruel blow given the well known situation in the Drivers' championship, even if it means that tomorrow's 71 lap Brazilian Grand Prix now promises to see a very interesting race develop.

An all-Ferrari front row was definitely on the cards today had it not been for Schumacher's bad luck. Instead, for his third pole position, Felipe shares the front row with the man who will be his team-mate next season, Kimi Raikkonen, in the McLaren-Mercedes. Third place goes to the Toyota of Jarno Trulli, while reigning champion Fernando Alonso is fourth in his Renault. The third row sees Rubens Barrichello put his Honda in fifth spot, with Giancarlo Fisichella in the second Renault in sixth spot. Michael shares the fifth row of the grid with the BMW-Sauber of Robert Kubica.

The challenge of winning either the Drivers' or Constructors' championships will be extremely tough tomorrow, however, if "these things happen in racing" is the unfortunate leitmotif of the last two races for the Scuderia, "we never give up" is a much longer-standing Ferrari tradition. Technical Director Ross Brawn feels the overall 248 F1-Bridgestone package is good enough to still see both Felipe and Michael stay and get to the front tomorrow. And it is worth noting that Michael once won the Belgian GP starting way down in sixteenth place. It was the seventh pole of the 2006 season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, following on from those in Sakhir, Imola, Indianapolis, Magny-Cours, Istanbul and Suzuka, the third for Felipe Massa. This was pole number 186 in Ferrari's history, the fifth in this Grand Prix.

Jean Todt: "This was a bitter-sweet qualifying session for us. On the one hand we can be delighted with a great pole position for Felipe, which came about due to his talent and the clear superiority of the 248 F1-Bridgestone tyre package. On the other hand there is a great disappointment for Michael who was reduced to the role of spectator, sitting in the cockpit of his car in the garage, for the final part of the session, sidelined with what appears to be a fuel pressure problem.
 

"Without wishing to sound presumptuous, there is good reason to think we could have had two cars on the front row of the grid tomorrow. However, we find ourselves with one car on pole and the other relegated to the fifth row. Nevertheless, we know that anything can happen in racing, and one way and another, we experienced that ourselves various times this year. All we can do tomorrow is try and get both our cars out in front of all the others at the finish line."

Felipe Massa: "It's a dream for me to be on pole here at Interlagos, wearing the colours of my country while sitting in a Ferrari. I will never forget this day! I am very happy and I want to thank the team for having provided me with a perfect car. Tomorrow, I will do my utmost to win. I know it will be a tough race but everything is in place for me to achieve that goal. I am sorry for Michael who was really unlucky, just like in Suzuka. But I still believe we can get both our cars ahead of the others, which is vital if we are to win the Constructors' championship. My last lap? It was fantastic!"

Michael Schumacher: "Of course I am disappointed, but these things can happen. At the start of Q3, the car had a fuel pressure problem and all I could do was cruise round slowly back to the pits. Now we have to find out how it happened and try and make the best of this situation. Sure, it's a big handicap starting from tenth place. The only good part of today is that Felipe is on pole which must be very satisfying for him here at his home race. I hope that tomorrow he can win the race."

Ross Brawn: "A great performance from Felipe. He had a great car and the Bridgestone tyres were performing very well, but he produced a performance over and above expectations and in Q3 he did a handful of really incredible laps. We are very frustrated about the problem that kept Michael in the garage for the final part of qualifying. It seems to be linked to fuel pressure, but now we need to find out exactly what happened. It's a shame as we could have had two Ferraris on the front row. But in my opinion we could still pull off a one-two tomorrow. The cars are performing strongly, the Bridgestone tyres mean we can do consistent lap times and the weather forecast for slightly higher temperatures should all work in our favour. And let's not forget that in the past, Michael has managed to win races starting even further back on the grid."

Qualifying session: Felipe Massa: 1st 1.10.680 chassis 256; Michael Schumacher: 10th - chassis 255; Temperatures: air 20/21 °C track 31/34 °C