Barrichello Surprised by Webber's Pace

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello has said he was surprised to be beaten by Jaguar's Mark Webber to the fastest time in Friday's qualifying for his home Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver held on to the top spot in front of his fans until Webber, benefitting from a drying track, posted the quickest time of the day near the end of the session, relegating Barrichello to second place. Despite losing out to Webber, Barrichello is confident ahead of tomorrow's decisive qualifying.

"This has been quite a tricky day with plenty of emotions," said the Brazilian. "This afternoon the track was much better and I was able to push hard with the car. I am happy, even if I was surprised that Webber beat me. But when you are running in these conditions where the track is drying out, you should expect this sort of thing.

"I enjoyed myself out on the track and am happy with my position. Being in the top four is good enough for tomorrow, even if the second qualifying might be a lottery as we don't know what conditions to expect."

Ferrari teammate and World Champion Michael Schumacher finished as fifth quickest as he cautiously drove around the Brazilian circuit. The German, who is yet to finish on the podium this year, spun during his warm-up lap and finished more than two seconds off Barrichello's pace.

"The rain meant that track conditions were difficult, but not unacceptable, although it was aquaplaning which caused me to spin on my out lap," he said. "All in all, fifth place isn't bad. Tomorrow I will do my lap in the final part of the session. Whether or not that will be an advantage we will only know during qualifying, given the uncertainty over the weather."