Ralf blames traffic for poor qualifying

The German was one of several drivers who had traffic problems during the first part of qualifying, meaning he was unable to complete a clean lap and thus failing to make it to Q2.

Schumacher will start the race from 17th place.

"That result was a pity but this has been a difficult weekend and that was a difficult qualifying session," said Schumacher. "One reason for my struggle in Q1 was that I had traffic on my last flying run.

"I was on a two-lap run but I met a car on its warm-up lap in the last sector of the first lap, spoiling both that and the following lap. That means the qualifying time is not representative of what we are capable of.

"But I've also found grip hard to come by both in practice and in qualifying so we obviously have work to do. Our race pace should be better so let's see how we can do tomorrow even if it will be a tough afternoon from this grid position. Barcelona is not known for overtaking but the track has been changed so we'll see."

The day was much better for teammate Jarno Trulli, who put on his best qualifying performance of the year with sixth place on the grid.

The Italian, who came close to missing the cut in Q1, was pleased with the team's progress following the introduction of a new aerodynamic package.

"That was a good job by the whole team and the mechanics and today was a great result," said Trulli. "It was a very difficult qualifying session and we managed to keep cool when it was difficult and really stressful at the beginning.

"We nearly missed out on making it through Q1 because I hit traffic and I had to do the time on a second lap on old tyres.

"Thankfully we managed it so that was a good job. I was also happy with my lap in Q2, then in Q3 I really went for it on my last run on new tyres and P6 is a great performance.

"We expected to go well here because we have a new aerodynamics package that seems to be working well. So we have made a good step forward but we will keep pushing to improve more and more."