French GP Saturday Ferrari notes

Jean Todt:
“We secured a fourth pole for Schumacher and the fifth this season for Ferrari, on a track where we knew we would have a tough time in qualifying. We are happy with the result, with Michael on pole and Rubens third. To qualify on the first and second rows was our objective. This is only the first step on what will still be a long weekend. The weather will make this race particularly difficult. As usual, the start and reliability will be very important. It will be vital to leave here with some points in order to enter the second part of the season with a bigger margin over our main rivals.“

Michael Schumacher:
“My first run was spot on and that is the main reason I took pole, because others seemed to improve on their later runs. The car was good so we did not need to make many changes in between the runs. So far the weekend is going well, partly because of the good work we did here last week. But you cannot rely on the testing as conditions change so quickly here, especially on the tyre side. You must be prepared to change the car according to what conditions you find. There have been some comments about the problem of the position of the pit lane exit, but with the extra speed at which the cars will leave the pits in the race, I don’t think it will be a problem tomorrow.“

Rubens Barrichello:
“I am pleased with my third place. We had a bit of difficulty as we tried a change of set up after the first run which wasn’t bad and then we made further changes for the next two. But when we checked the ride height we did not get the result we expected. So for my fourth and final run, we went back to the original set up and it was much better. But by then, the track was hotter and therefore slower.”