German GP Saturday Ferrari notes

Eddie Irvine: sixth, 1m 43.270s, 11 laps Michael Schumacher: ninth, 1.43.459s, 12 laps

Jean Todt "This was a difficult qualifying session for us. Michael is not in his usual position, partly because he only completed six laps this morning. On two occasions he was delayed by traffic which is why he did not improve on the time set on his second run. However the grid is very close with only half a second separating fourth and tenth places. Eddie is on the third row and all in all, the grid is not what we had expected."

Eddie Irvine "This has been a very difficult day. The car was much better this afternoon than in the morning, because of changes we made to the set-up. All the same it was a struggle. I took a lot of downforce off and that helped my time in the first two section, but it made life very difficult in the stadium. I did not have enough grip. Third row on the grid is not too bad for the race, but my car does not feel very good on full tanks, so it is going to be tough."

Michael Schumacher "Of course I am disappointed with my grid position. It is definitely the wrong time and the wrong place to have my worst qualifying of the season. Even without my problems in this morning's free practice, I would have only been a couple of tenths quicker. As can be seen from Eddie's time, our performance level was not good enough. In the first half of the morning session, I made a mistake and in the second half I did hardly any laps because of an engine failure. I hope the crowd is not too disappointed as my brother had a good session. We have to work very hard for tomorrow to improve the car. It is possible to overtake here, it is a long race and anything can happen."

Chassis: Schumacher no. 186 (normal wheelbase), Irvine no. 185 Temperatures: air 24 C, track 33 C