By Ferrari Press Release
May 30 2004

Michael Schumacher has taken pole position at every race this season bar San Marino and last weekend’s Monaco GP, setting the fastest time today to record his 60th career pole, bringing the Scuderia’s total to 171. In pre-qualifying, Schumacher was eleventh man on track and topped the time sheet until Takuma Sato posted the fastest time to ensure his BAR-Honda would be the last car out on track in the subsequent grid-deciding session, with the Ferrari man running just before him. Rubens had made his first run third on track, posting the seventh quickest time.

Before Rubens made his qualifying run, the Renaults of Trulli and Alonso were first and second. Rubens’ lap was good enough to go third at this stage. Raikkonen was next out in the McLaren-Mercedes, splitting the two Anglo-French cars. Then Button in the BAR-Honda went third. Michael’s run was incredible and he ended up taking pole, his 60th by a margin of over six tenths of a second from the BAR-Honda of Takuma Sato. The Japanese driver made a little piece of history as his performance today means that he becomes the first driver from the land of the Rising Sun to start a Formula 1 Grand Prix from the front row of the grid.

Behind Michael (1.28.351) and Sato (1.28.986) row two is occupied by the Renault of Jarno Trulli (1.29.135) and the McLaren-Mercedes of Kimi Raikkonen (1.29.137.) The third row sees Jenson Button (1.29.245) just ahead of Fernando Alonso (1.29.313.) With the times so closely matched, a couple of minor errors from Rubens Barrichello sees him line up seventh on row 4, with the BMW-Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya next to him.

Michael Schumacher (Driver):

"I had the perfect lap, but I am surprised at the gap to the others, although I am not surprised to be on pole as I expected to be very competitive here. It was nice not to be first on the road in pre-qualifying as that helped in being able to run towards the end of the session. As for the race, I am looking forward to it, as there is always some extra motivation from the fans at a home race. It is also good to be racing so soon after Monaco to put that disappointment behind me. Although it is difficult to get the car perfectly balanced at this track, I seem able to do consistent lap times and I am confident we have made the right decision on tyres and hopefully we can win the race tomorrow."

Rubens Barrichello (Driver):

"Apart from Michael, who did a great time, we are all within a few tenths of one another, so it only took very little to be higher or lower on the grid. I think we have a car and tyre combination that will be very competitive in the race and so I am reasonably confident about tomorrow. It will be a tough race and we have everything in place to get a good result."

Ross Brawn (Technical Director):

"Michael had a fantastic qualifying session today with a really unbelievable lap! We were a little bit unsure about the performance of the tyres on the first laps, so this morning we worked a lot to get the best out of them in this area. Michael did an impeccable job. Rubens made a few mistakes, which given how close the times were, cost him a few places on the grid. We are happy with the handling of the cars and tyres which are performing very consistently. We are looking forward with optimism to tomorrow’s race."

Jean Todt (General Director):

"We dedicate this pole to Umberto Agnelli, who would have been proud of Michael’s achievement today. We are pleased to renew our acquaintance with pole after Michael’s run of five was interrupted in Monaco. All things considered, Rubens also did well and is in with a chance of a good result tomorrow. There are so many parameters to take into consideration: the start, the strategy, tyre wear. In this area Bridgestone has provided us with tyres that are very consistent not only in terms of performance, but also reliability, without which you are nowhere and that also applies to Shell, who I thank for their work on the crucial area of our lubricants."

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