Schumacher Targets Fourth Place

The German managed to grab sixth place on the grid, despite running a little wide at Turn Two on his qualifying lap, and he hopes the result can be matched in the race.

"My initial feeling about my lap was that it was not very good, but when I look at the actual lap time, I have to be happy with that," he said. "It could have been worse and, given our strategy, we look to be in a good position for tomorrow.

"I don't expect to be quicker than those ahead of me on the grid, but given what can happen in the race, I think realistically, we can expect to fight for points between fourth and sixth place.

"On my lap, I made a small mistake, running wide at Turn 2, but it did not cost me as much time as I thought. Maybe the very best I could have done was to be ahead of Juan Pablo. But that would not have been much of an advantage as he will be quicker than me in the race anyway."

Teammate Rubens Barrichello will start in eighth after having slightly less favourable conditions than Schumacher on his final qualifying effort for Ferrari.

"It was a reasonable qualifying, even though the track was definitely not at its best when it was my turn to make my run," he said. "I am reasonably pleased.  Maybe I could have been a few places further up, but all in all, this is okay.

"Tomorrow, I will give it my best shot to try and get the best result possible in my last race at the wheel of  a Ferrari."