He did a better job, admits Schu

"In a way I'm pleased, we're both on the front row and, naturally, I'd have preferred to be in his place, but Rubens did a better job," Schumacher admitted.

The German admitted that he was pleased to even be on the second row of the grid after suffering from severe understeer in the second sector of the lap.

"I struggled in the middle sector, I had to fight far too much oversteer in there and lost a reasonable amount of time," he said. "There was obviously a doubt that I'd keep that position. Actually I was expecting to drop further back."

Barrichello's took his first pole of the season and although the top spot was not decided until the last seconds of the session, it came as no real surprise after the Brazilian topped three out of the four practice sessions and pre-qualifying.

"I just tried to make it an easy lap, be on the limit but make no mistakes, and it was my first pole of the season so I'm very happy," he said. "The tyres have been good all the time and we made some progress since yesterday, but I think Michael made even more progress than me, so we were very close together. Before pre-qualifying we made a small change and the car was a bit better. Knowing I got pole against Michael today means I got pole against the best."

Barrichello has failed to match the pace of his team-mate for much of this season, but technical boss Ross Brawn was happy to see him at the front once again.

"We are very happy. Rubens has had a bit of a tough time this season this year so this is really fantastic," said the Brit. "He has been quickest all weekend and we are delighted."

Asked if Ferrari would be imposing team orders, Brawn said: "Our only team order is that they mustn't knock each other off."