Untouchable Schuey Ready to Help Barrichello

Ferrari star Michael Schumacher admitted he was surprised by his pace in today's qualifying for the final round of the Championship at Suzuka, where the German driver scored his eleventh pole position in seventeen races this season.

The quadruple World Champion, using a new lighter version of Ferrari's F2001 chassis, proved to be in a class of his own in today's session, finishing seven tenths of a second ahead of second-placed Juan Pablo Montoya with the Williams.

Schumacher said after qualifying that he didn't expect to be so quick at the Japanese circuit, and offered his help to teammate Rubens Barrichello, who is fighting for second place in the Championship behind the German.

"We expected to be fast here and we were," said Schumacher. "However, we had predicted a lap time much slower than this, so for once it's nice when the prediction is wrong. We made a few changes in between the runs which improved the car. It was certainly very good and felt nice to drive.

"I know that if I win tomorrow, I will have scored more points than any other driver, but if I can help Rubens to come second in the Championship then that is my job and it is more important than the points. I expect I will score some more points next year."

Barrichello could only post the fourth fastest time, more than eight tenths behind his teammate. But The Brazilian driver, who needs to win on Sunday in order to have a shot at the runner-up spot in the standings, was confident of a good race, especially after qualifying three places ahead of rival David Coulthard.

"I gave it my best shot," he admitted. "Just as happened in Indianapolis, I was unable to dial out all the understeer and that prevented me from going any quicker. However, on worn tyres this is less of a problem and so, I am pretty confident for tomorrow's race, given that under these conditions the balance of the car is much better.

"I expect to be competitive tomorrow, even if there are less passing opportunities here than in Indianapolis."