Schumacher Raises Ferrari Spirits

Schumacher's front row place was his best since Bahrain in April and, even if fuel loads remain unknown, revived Ferrari's hopes of a first win of the Championship to end an eight-race losing streak.

The German, 0.258 slower than pole setter Jenson Button's lap of 1:15.217, has won a record seven times in Canada.

Renault and McLaren remained the overwhelming favourites after dominating practice but Schumacher's position after gearbox problems in the morning threw Ferrari back into the reckoning.

"I'm feeling much more confident than I have felt so far this season, no doubt," said the champion, whose teammate Rubens Barrichello failed to complete a qualifying lap after pulling over with a mechanical problem.

The Brazilian will start at the rear.

"Yesterday things didn't look very good but we found a lot of reasons for our performance yesterday because it wasn't normal that we would be so far behind," added the German. "At the end of the day, we got the car together very well this morning.

"It was a shame that we couldn't finish our work to the end because of a gearbox problem, although we picked up the gearbox problem early enough not to have it at the moment when it matters.

"So a great job from everybody because it took a huge effort from everybody to bring the car back in the position that we are in. And we were hoping for that position. We worked the car very well this morning and things looked pretty good for us."