Qualifying press conference - Bahrain GP - Pt.1.

Drivers: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams)

TV unilaterals

Q:
Michael, it looked as if it has been a reasonably hard two days' work so far. Ross Brawn was saying yesterday that perhaps the circuit characteristics here do not favour your car particularly well....

Michael Schumacher:
Well, possibly. But all that matters is that we are where we are and we finally got everything together, although I wouldn't say that was one of my best laps, honestly. Nevertheless it was enough.

Q:
Are you talking about your own performance or are you saying you could have got more from the car given more time for set-up?

MS:
I think we all sort of struggled in some way to get the perfect lap in. All of us somewhere, somehow, lost time I guess because it is very tricky to get everything out of this circuit because it is very demanding.

Q:
Are you talking about it being very dirty off line for example?

MS:
It's not about that, I mean, I don't think too many of us went off line. It is just that it is very tricky even on line because it is a technically difficult circuit.

Q:
Rubens, Michael seemed to be a little bit quicker on sector three, certainly on the times. How was it from your point of view?

Rubens Barrichello:
Well, I had a reasonable lap but I didn't have a very quick one. I had a little bit of a problem with the brakes on the first session, so I didn't expect it to be that different and the brakes were a lot better so, in many ways, I was a little bit too conservative and the last corner was pretty much where I lost it. Michael had a phenomenal sector three where I was a little bit too conservative and that is where I lost the time.

Q:
Juan Pablo, how has qualifying been for you?

Juan Pablo Montoya:
It was good the first two sectors, you know, and I think the lap itself was very good until I got to the last corner. I just had a bit too much understeer when I went in and had to work on the throttle and all the time was lost. If you look at Ralf I lost four tenths to Ralf in the last sector but luckily I made enough time in the first two sectors to be third.

Q:
Michael, here we are in Bahrain for the first time. There has been talk about problems with sand or heat, just give us your take on the circuit and the weekend so far.

MS:
I think we have found a very well prepared circuit for the conditions and the situation here. You imagine the time they had available and how much time they had to build the circuit. Everyone I have heard so far is very happy in coming here, the circuit is difficult, it is technically demanding, but that is what we are looking for - we don't look for easy business - and I hope we are going to be able to have a good show for all the spectators. It is a new country where we deliver Formula One and it would be good to show something to those people.

Press conference:

Q:
Michael, we saw one or two little wisps of smoke from the tyres - does that mean you were right on the limit or just a fraction over it?

MS:
Probably more a fraction over it than on it.

Q:
Would that have lost you time?

MS:
I think all of us, after today's qualifying on a technically difficult circuit, a sharp-edged circuit, we can say that in the end.

Q:
So how confident were you of a good time during qualifying today?

MS:
I was confident we would fight for pole, whether it would happen or not happen I thought it was going to be very close and it probably would have been.

Q:
Because you have had one or two problems, you have gone off the circuit a couple of times, but that has just been finding the limit has it?

MS:
I think none of us can say it hasn't happened to him today or yesterday. I think it is the nature of the circuit. You do try and the conditions do change through the run and it might just be a bit too much and a bit too much is out in the dust.

Q:
Is it going to be as precarious in the race itself?

MS:
I think it will be something to be difficult to handle during the race.

Q:
Is that because of its slipperiness or the technicality?

MS:
Yeah, it is simply because it is so slippery as soon as you get off line a little bit and the nature of the circuit itself, with the tyre and the heat, is already slippery so as a combination it makes it tricky.

Rubens, you went relatively early. Do you think that was a disadvantage? Did it affect things at all?

RB:
I am not so sure. I had a look and there was a difference of three degrees. Probably the cloud helped towards the end but it doesn't really matter. I was actually surprised that the Williams didn't set the times they were setting this morning as well as BAR. I had a reasonable run, possibly I could have gone faster if I was later in the session but even so that is part of the past already.

Q:
It seems as though the second two sectors are more important. Is that the case or not?

RB:
I think very honestly, like Michael said, the track is very difficult technically so if you make a mistake on turns one and two or four you try to overcome the problem and then you overdo it. And by overdoing it you run just a little bit off line and you make a mistake. That is why the people who didn't set a good time on sector one were not able to recuperate the time more than anything else.

Q:
You talked about brake problems just now. You had brake problems in the previous race; other people have had brake problems here. Is it a problem you have got sorted, first of all, for the race itself?

RB:
I think so. On the first run, to be honest, they were not prepared enough for the lap, and on the second run they were too prepared. So I was in the middle of second guessing what I should do in terms of braking and the conditions to go to the corner. The balance of the car itself is very good and I am quite happy with the brakes so I think I have a good brake package for tomorrow's race.

Q:
Juan Pablo, as Rubens just mentioned, Williams were expected to do a little better. Are you disappointed in getting third?

JPM:
I think it is better than second. I think looking at Michael's last sector and what we had done in the first sector it looked very hard to make up the time. The first two sectors were very good and it actually cost me more through the last corner when I tried to carry just a bit more speed and had too much understeer. I had to just work with the throttle and lost all the time on the straight. So from that point of view it was a bit disappointing but I think seeing as the track is so dirty on the right hand side - nobody has actually run through there - it is actually better.

Q:
What about the factors for the race itself? What is the first corner going to be like?

JPM:
Ah, interesting, you know! It will be pretty good. We have been getting pretty good starts. Apart from the first start, where we had a problem with the clutch, the last race was very good so it will be interesting to see what Rubens can do from the dirty side on Michael.

Q:
And going off line, say, to overtake backmarkers?

JPM:
It is going to be pretty interesting. It is going to cost you quite a bit of time because I think the tyre is going to pick up so much rubber it is going to take a bit of time to clean.

Q:
Do you think your tyres clean off as well or better than the Bridgestones?

JPM:
I don't know - I have never driven a Bridgestone. It is difficult to say.