Schumacher: Mechanics did top job to fix car.

French GP pole-winner, Michael Schumacher has thanked all his Ferrari mechanics after they fixed his car following a fire in the free practice session on Saturday morning.

Despite that incident though, Schumacher bounced back in qualifying to take his fourth pole of the season and his fourth at the Magny Cours circuit. The German is now perfectly placed to take the win and the maximum ten points on Sunday, to further reduce the gap to run-away championship leader, Fernando Alonso, who is currently 19 points ahead.

Speaking after taking P1 with a 1m 15.493s, fractionally up on his team-mate, Felipe Massa, Schumacher was quick to praise Bridgestone too and rightly so, as Bridgestone locked out the top five, bar P3, which was taken by the Michelin-shod Renault of Alonso.

"I am very happy! Pole position with Felipe starting alongside me - we cannot ask for more," said Schumacher.

"I have to admit I am a bit surprised at the result, especially in light of the fact we started qualifying without much of a reference point after the problems we had this morning in practice. I want to thank all the mechanics, who did a fantastic job to fix the car.

"The Bridgestones are performing very well. It's great to have repeated the Indianapolis qualifying result, but now I also want to repeat the race result from there, as it is important to pick up as many points as possible. Our aim for tomorrow is obvious: to win."

Ferrari boss, Jean Todt meanwhile was delighted to see Schumacher and Massa lock-out the front row, the third time the Scuderia have managed that feat this season, most recently of course at the United States GP two weeks ago.

"A fantastic qualifying! Tomorrow on the grid, it will be nice to see two Ferraris on the front row for the third time this season," added Todt. "A big vote of thanks to Bridgestone, who have provided us with exceptional tyres for qualifying. The team did a really excellent job, repairing the cars after the problems we had in the final free practice session. But we are well aware that the only thing that matters for the championships is the race result. Yes, having both cars on the front row means we are in the best possible situation to bring home a good result tomorrow, but we also know what key factors will make the difference: reliability (remember that we will run 70 laps in very high temperatures), consistent tyre performance, strategy and the way the team handles the pit-stops."