Hungarian GP Ferrari Saturday notes

Ninth pole position of the season for Ferrari and for Michael Schumacher. Today's was the Scuderia's 146th pole, its fourth in Hungary and the driver's 41st and fifth here.

Jean Todt
"The entire team produced a great performance. Michael was fantastic setting a great time to take the ninth pole of the season. Rubens is third and will start from the second row. We knew it would be important to secure good grid positions and we managed to reach our objective. Now we must concentrate on the race, which will be a whole different story. This Grand Prix is very long and will be run in very high temperatures, which will have an effect on various components. We are aware how important will be reliability. Looking at today's performance, will be very tight and closely fought. For the first time this year, the result could decide the World Championships."

Michael Schumacher
"I am surprised at this lap time as it is much quicker than our predictions had suggested. It's the result of a perfect lap and a car that was already one hundred percent in the morning. I only did six laps, but not to save tyres. It was just that I felt I had got the maximum out of myself and the car. So it was better to sit and wait rather than waste effort. Of course I will be trying to win tomorrow, but I do not expect the advantage will be as big as today and I expect a tight competitive race with David and Rubens. It should be a good show for the spectators. If possible we will be trying to win the championship, but first I want to get ten points."

Rubens Barrichello
"The car was very good this morning. Then my first run was quite good and the second was better but I had problems with traffic. After that, my car seemed to lose its balance for the last two runs and I could no longer do the times. I am a little bit disappointed to be third as I had been closer to Michael all weekend. At least I am starting from the clean side of the track and in the race, my plan is to drive as fast as I can and try to win, which would help Michael for the championship. With all the accelerating and braking this is a tough race, both mentally and physically, but even with the three week break, I think we do enough miles to deal with it"

Ross Brawn
"An exceptional performance from Michael. He looked good all weekend and we arrived here in good shape. The fact that he won the championship last year has made this season less stressful for him. I have seen no signs of pressure and he seems very relaxed. I hope the pressure is now on the other guys. But we will have to finish the job tomorrow. All in all a superb performance from the team. Michael also saved two sets of tyres today, which will be good for the race. As long as we can now find a good set up for the race, I think he is in with a great chance. The quicker lap times compared with last year are mainly down to tyre development and Bridgestone has given us a good tyre here and the fact there are so many corners here emphasises the importance of the tyres. I am happy with Rubens' position. Hakkinen won from third last year, and it is the clean side of the track. With a good race strategy, Rubens could be in good shape tomorrow."

-Ferrari