Schumacher Not Surprised by Williams Pace

World Champion Michael Schumacher said he was not surprised to be outpaced by Williams rival Juan Pablo Montoya in today's qualifying for Ferrari's home Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver, winner of 10 out of 14 races so far this year, was unable to score pole position in front of the thousands of Italian fans willing to celebrate a dominant season from the Maranello-based outfit.

Schumacher, who clinched his fifth title in record time this year, qualified 0.257 seconds behind Montoya, and admitted he was lucky to make the front row.

"It was a very interesting session with different situations arising," said the German. "Given that the Williams were very quick here, I can say we should be happy with second and fourth places, especially as Ralf could have been quicker if it had not been for the red flags at the end.

"To be honest, I am not surprised at the result. We are not quick enough in qualifying trim but we can be tomorrow in the race, when I think the lap times will be much closer."

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who suffered an engine blow-up during today's practice sessions, was fourth quickest with the second Ferrari. Like his teammate, Barrichello was confident of a better performance in tomorrow's race.

"In the end, I can say this was a good qualifying session, especially when considering the problem I had in the first part of this morning's free practice," said Barrichello. "It was something of an unusual session, because the quickest time came with the second flying lap.

"As for tomorrow, I am calm and confident. Already, from last week's test, we saw that the F2002 is very good in race trim. On top of that, overtaking is possible at this track, so not starting from the front row is not a penalty."