Schumacher confident of staying on top

The five-times world champion outpaced Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello by three-tenths of a second in qualifying today, despite bemoaning difficult track conditions.

"I am happy with my time this afternoon, because the track was quite slippery as I was only the second car to run," said Schumacher. "Right since the start of the morning session, my car has been very well balanced, which obviously helped me do a good time. It is always difficult to predict what can happen here in Monaco, but we can be confident for the rest of the weekend, as the car is working well and we have identified our tyre choice early. So now, and on Saturday morning, we can concentrate on establishing the right fuel strategy for final qualifying and the race."

Team-mate Barrichello said of his second fastest time: "I am pretty satisfied with this result. This morning, at the start of free practice, the car was not perfect, but then we made some changes and the situation improved considerably. It was important to get near the top today in order to be among the last to run in Saturday's qualifying."

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn said: "The car worked well and so did the tyres, which has allowed us to identify quickly our tyre choice for the rest of the weekend and both our drivers are satisfied with it. So, I think we will be competitive. Now we will have to concentrate on finding the right strategy for the race."