Ferrari Relying on Strategy to Beat Montoya

Ferrari's technical director Ross Brawn said that the Italian team are likely to rely on their strategy to win Sunday's French Grand Prix after losing out to Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya in today's qualifying session.

Despite a very close and exciting battle, Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were beaten by the Colombian for the fifth consecutive time. The German Championship leader was only 0.023 seconds slower than Montoya in what turned out to be one of the closest fields of the year.

Brawn said the strategy will be crucial on a track where there is only one clear overtaking point - the Adelaide hairpin - and the Briton is confident they will be able to beat their rivals in the pits.

"We can expect a close race tomorrow," he said. "Strategy is very important at this race, as we proved last year. If we can stay with Montoya, there is a good chance we can try and win through the pit stops.

"This morning we saved tyres for the race, which meant that the cars were not perfect at the start of qualifying, so we had to wait for the later part of the session.

"We would have preferred to be on pole, but that could have spoilt the recent tradition, which has seen us win the last three races without starting from the front. Michael did a great lap at the end and almost managed to set the quickest time."

Schumacher could clinch his fifth title on Sunday if he wins the race and Montoya and Barrichello fail to finish in the podium.