Ferrari's rivals expect close race

Kimi Raikkonen drove his first trouble-free Saturday qualifying lap of the season and McLaren boss Ron Dennis, asked if the race was as finely balanced as it looks, replied: "We haven't compromised any of our race strategy to qualify on the front row of the grid, so perhaps Ferrari don't have a similar race strategy."

Juan Pablo Montoya, third on the grid, said: "Ferrari seems to start off really quick but their tyres seem to drop off a little and ours seem to be doing the opposite. It's going to be interesting. Bridgestone looked quite strong at the beginning, but as the weekend has gone on, we've seemed to get stronger and stronger on the Michelin.

"In the long runs I did in Saturday morning practice I managed a 1m09.7s near the end (as against Schumacher's pole of 1m09.150s) and I was very surprised by that. I think we can be competitive."