Brawn: At last!

Juan Pablo Montoya has been the man to watch on Saturday afternoons in the past five grands prix, but it was Schumacher who turned up the wick during qualifying, posting a time of 1m14.389s around the new 2.7-mile Hockenheim circuit.

"At last!" said Brawn. "It has been a little too long since we had a pole position. I hope we will be able to break the recent tradition that has seen Saturday's pole man fail to win on Sunday. It was an exciting session. We based our tyre choice on being in good shape for tomorrow, given that we are expecting it to be pretty hot."

Looking ahead to Sunday, Brawn says the run-off areas at the new track could make for a pretty exciting race.

"I think it will be a very interesting race, during which strategy will be an important factor," continued the Englishman. "The drivers like this new circuit, as they can get back on track without losing too much time if they make a mistake. I think that is why we have seen drivers pushing it to the limit this weekend."