Schumacher plays down his Spa chances

And he even confessed Ferrari was not competitive after putting his Ferrari fourth on the grid for his favourite race.

But echoing the views of Hakkinen (see separate story), the double champion refused to write off his victory chances after qualifying on the second row - the position from which Hakkinen has led the last two races and won one of them.

"Both Ferraris are not in a competitive situation," he said after nudging David Coulthard down to fifth on his very last flying lap in the final minutes of qualifying. "But on the other hand, if I had been able to go as fast I could, then I would have been second. There were yellow flags and a car parked on the circuit, so I had to slow down."

He had traffic on his second run and yellow flags on his third, while Hakkinen cruised to pole a clear 0.9 seconds faster than the Ferraris and 0.7s clear of all but Jarno Trulli's Jordan.

"We are not competitive enough to get pole and it should concern us," said Schumacher. "It is worrying but no-one expected Mika to win in Hungary so lets see what happens tomorrow."