Japanese GP Saturday Ferrari Notes

Suzuka, 30th October

Michael Schumacher: first, 1m 37.470, 11 laps, F399 chassis no. 195 Eddie Irvine: fifth, 1m 38.975, 11 laps, F399 chassis nos. 196 and 194

Jean Todt "We wanted and expected to get Michael onto the front row with the best time and to have Eddie in the top four. We ended up with pole for Michael and fifth place for Eddie: almost what we aimed for and not bad for the race. Now we are concentrating on tomorrow, when both Championships will be decided. Our cars are working well and I think that so far, we have done everything we set out to do. Eddie will use chassis number 194 as his race car tomorrow and chassis number 190 as his spare."

Michael Schumacher "I am very happy to be on pole today. This is further confirmation of the high performance level of our car at the moment. We made some progress this morning and improved even more this afternoon. Now we have to look at what is the best way to help Eddie for tomorrow because we are working as a team. Eddie can be sure he will have everything available. The best thing I can do to help him and the team is to win the race and the Constructor's Championship for Ferrari."

Eddie Irvine "Just before my accident, we had made a major change to the front end of the car which was a big improvement. But it made the car more nervous and I just lost control of the back end, which is why I crashed. My neck might be a bit stiff, but it's not going to be a problem tomorrow. Being on the third row is not ideal, but it is by no means a disaster. At least I am not on the clean side of the track. It was useful having to use the spare car, as we learned something from it which we can use tomorrow which will improve the car."