Ferrari misses out on pole

"I am reasonably confident for the race," said reigning champion Michael Schumacher. "But it is hard to say what everyone's race pace will be as we have not done that much running in dry conditions. We will need a good strategy and must wait and see if we can be quicker than the others.

"I chose to go out earlier than usual for my first run, so that we would have time to make changes to the car. The car was very good in the first sector but I was losing time in the next two. We changed the nose of the car, but we never found the right balance this afternoon."

Team-mate Rubens Barrichello was happier with his performance. "I had a fantastic first run to post my best time," he said. "On my final run I had cars in front of me as I left the pits and when I came to start the flying lap my tyres were a little cooler than I would have liked."

Technical director Ross Brawn believes that Ferrari starts the British Grand Prix as favourites.

"We hope to continue the trend seen in the last few races, where qualifying doesn't count for a lot in the race. The cars went well, and we are happy with our tyre choices for the race, which will be very close."