New Set-Up Pays Off for Trulli

Jarno Trulli revealed after his front-row qualifying performance for the French Grand Prix that the result had only come after a dramatic change in his car's set-up for Saturday's morning practice session

The Italian had struggled with the handling of his TF105 throughout Friday and decided to make a drastic change of plan overnight in a bid to improve fortunes.

In the end, he missed out on pole position by just one tenth of a second.

"It's great to be starting on the front row again," said Trulli, whose pole position at the United States Grand Prix only came after his team decided to run with a very low fuel load.

"I'm very happy with my lap because it was very clean and very quick. The car has been handling well all day, which I have to say was a bit of a surprise.

"Yesterday I wasn't very happy with my set-up, and we were struggling. But we changed that all around this morning, found a new direction and found a much stronger grip level.

"The car is working well now. This morning we were quite competitive on the long runs too so I think we can be strong in the race. Everything is certainly looking good so far."

Teammate Ralf Schumacher again struggled to match the pace of his teammate - having locked up on the entry to the Adelaide Hairpin on his qualifying lap having already had the disadvantage of going out onto the track first.

"It was a pity that I locked up on my way into the Adelaide hairpin because that lost me half a second," said Schumacher, who will start from 11 th on the grid.

"Apart from that, it was a reasonably clear lap and it was good to gain a few places despite going out first when the track was at its most slippery. Now we have to look forward to tomorrow and try and gain some more points out of the race, as I have often managed this year from similar positions."