Schumacher Wants to Benefit from Raikkonen Mishap

World Champion Michael Schumacher said that his qualifying performance for the Canadian Grand Prix was not one of his best ones but he was pleased taking the title situation into consideration.

Ferrari driver Schumacher, the penultimate man on track, could only managed third quickest in the session behind BMW-Williams pair Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

But the five-time champion said he had taken the overall title situation into consideration during his run, which included a minor mistake, after series leader Kimi Raikkonen, of McLaren, had already aborted his lap after crashing off. The Finn will have to start last.

"Honestly, the mistake wasn't that big," said Schumacher, who trails Raikkonen by four points. "But we have to consider the Championship situation and knowing where Kimi is at the moment and where we can be tomorrow that is obviously very promising."

Schumacher accepted he would have been hard pushed to better his younger brother Ralf's time but did admit he had not produced one his better performances in the one-lap shootout.

"Honestly, if I consider the quality of my lap, being third I have to be happy because that wasn't one of my better ones," he said. I am reasonably okay with the position I am in so let's see what happens tomorrow.

"It would have been difficult (to beat Ralf). It would have been tight."

Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello, fastest in Friday's session, could only finish in fifth.