Question marks hang over Ferrari’s race reliability

The Frenchman spoke of his concern after Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello locked out the front row for the Maranello-based team. Both, however, had earlier hit trouble in the free practice sessions and were forced to stop out on the circuit.

"In yesterday's free practice we saw that the potential [for a good result] was there, and today it was confirmed with an all-red front row," said Todt. "Now we must think about tomorrow's race, which I feel will be a completely different ball game. Reliability will be the most important factor and at the moment I do not feel I can say this is one of our strong points."

After a blindingly-quick lap which secured pole position, Schumacher even drove the spare car in qualifying, simply to give it a systems check in case it is required on Sunday. The German, however, is unconcerned about the problems in free practice which saw Barrichello blow an engine in the first session, while Schumacher himself ground to a halt with a front-left wheel problem in the second period.

"I am not worried about the couple of technical problems we have had in practice," said Schumacher. "Because we have done so many kilometres in testing without coming across them before."

Team mate Barrichello, who was forced to abort one of his qualifying runs due to a gear selector glitch, shared his optimism: "I am confident that we can have a good car for the race, as we have done so much testing on full tanks at Mugello [in Italy]."