Schumacher Expecting Close Race

Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher said the gap to his rivals is smaller than what yesterday's time reflected.

The German was well over half a second faster than the closest of his rivals in the first qualifying session, but today Schumacher put his Ferrari on pole position for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix at the circuit where he was jeered last year by only 0.039 seconds over McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen.

"What we saw yesterday I would maybe put down to set-up issues. I guess the huge difference that we saw wasn't honestly a true reflection," he said. "At least, that's my guess from what I have seen and what I have seen today, so it should be an interesting situation tomorrow."

The German, a controversial winner at the A1-Ring after being handed the lead at the last corner in 2002, lapped faster than McLaren's championship leader Raikkonen in Saturday's final qualifying to score his third successive pole and the 54th of his career.

He could have gone faster after wobbling at the second corner.

"I knew that I lost a little bit of time but not a great deal," Schumacher said. "I got the car back just enough not to run too wide on the kerbs and lose a lot of traction."

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher's teammate who has been forced to move over for the German in the last two Austrian races, qualified on the third row.