Irvine looks forward to McLaren battle

Although he is right behind the Finn on the grid the margin marks a disastrous start to the Ulsterman's reign as Ferrari number one in Michael Schumacher's absence.

'The big issue in qualifying for me was the brakes but that won't be the case in the race so we will give them a good run for their money tomorrow,' he said.

The Ulsterman tried to put a shiny gloss on qualifying third behind the two McLarens but the margin will have left him under massive pressure in the Maranello camp.

'The gap isn't one second it's half a second because we didn't get it exactly right but in the race it could be completely different situation.

'We under-performed today. We could have done a 1m 11.5s lap but I kept locking the brakes.

'Because of the situation of my brakes I couldn't commit to the corners. Sometimes I was locking the fronts and sometimes the rears on different corners.

'On different laps different things happened. I couldn't get a lap together.

'In the race that won't be an issue. Because he is on the inside where rubber has been laid down he believes he will be better placed than Coulthard who is on the outside - the dirtyline.

'At least I am in the right position. Third on the grid is not bad as second as DC [Coulthard] will find out tomorrow.

'Hopefully I can make a good start, get DC and then push Mika.'

He deflected questions that he was missing team leader Michael Schumacher.

'Michael is always a good reference but mine was there on its own. We should have done a 11.5. It would be interesting to see what Michael could have done if he was here but we are normally quite close here.

'I've got to look to myself and make sure I get the best out of the car.'