Italian GP Ferrari Saturday notes

Monza, Saturday 12th September

Michael Schumacher: first, 1m 25.289, 9 laps Eddie Irvine: fifth, 1m 26.159s, 11 laps

Jean Todt "The unusual weather conditions, with the track drying out in the last few minutes of the session, gave us a hand. Michael got the most out of his lap on new tyres and set the fastest time. Eddie also improved on his last lap to take fifth place. Starting from the front row will be very important for tomorrow's race and it is great to have done it here at Monza in front of all our fans."

Michael Schumacher "This was a dream result. It has been a long wait for my first pole of the season, but Monza is the best place for it to happen and I am very happy about it. We got everything right and we picked the best moment to go out. I did my pole time on the first lap of my final run. I had not expected it to be good enough as my final lap should have been the quickest. However, I made a mistake on the last lap and luckily the first one did the job. Today's result puts us in a very strong position for the race."

Eddie Irvine "Not bad! I went out on a set-up we had not tried and it gave me a bit too much understeer. There was no time to change it. I started my last lap, which was my quickest one, behind a slower car and as I could not pass it going into the first corner, I got a bid held up Without that, I could have been quicker still. I start the race on the good side of the track and if I get off the line well maybe I can get past the McLarens. Now we must take a good look at our set-up choices for the race."

Chassis: Schumacher no. 186, Irvine no. 184 Temperatures: air 18-22 C, track 22-26 C