Italian GP: Ferrari Friday qualifying notes

Ferrari immediately after Montoya

Jean Todt:

"Our drivers made a good start on this the first day of our home race, the Italian Grand Prix. Even though we have not set the fastest time, we have proved to be competitive with both Michael and Rubens who secured respectable start positions for tomorrow's qualifying session. We know we still have work to do to optimise all aspects of our package, but we believe that we have the potential to run successfully for the rest of the Grand Prix weekend. On an important weekend like this one, we also received the encouragement of the Cardinal of Milan, Monsignor Tettamanzi, here to give all his support."

Rubens Barrichello:

"I set quite a good time. There was a lot of wind which made the car rather nervous. We are very close to our rivals and I think everything is in place for us to go for pole tomorrow and to try to win on Sunday. This morning, we had a few problems, but we resolved them in time for qualifying. We have a good starting point on which to develop the car over the next two days. The Bridgestone tyres worked well and we have reaped the benefits of last week's test."

Michael Schumacher:

"It was quite a good lap. The fact that, once again, I was first out on track was certainly not an advantage, even though this has been the situation so often this season. I am happy with the time I set and the position from which I will tackle tomorrow's qualifying session. I think we have a good base on which to work for the next couple of days. Now we have to see how competitive we are up against our rivals."

Ross Brawn:

"Track conditions were quite difficult this morning with the wind blowing in a completely different direction to last week. Running low downforce makes it difficult to find the right balance, but by the time we tackled qualifying it was looking reasonably good. Michael suffered a bit because there was some rubbish and leaves on the track when he went out. We had a pretty good idea about which tyre we wanted to race from the results of the test. We will now concentrate on that tyre to be in good shape for Sunday's race."

Rubens Barrichello: 2nd
1.20.784 3 laps
chassis 233

Michael Schumacher: 3rd
1.21.268 3 laps
chassis 229

-ferrari-