Michael, so the momentum continues?
Michael Schumacher: Yes, we did a good job in qualifying and a big, big compliment to all of my mechanics, who’ve done a great job to get the car ready obviously and performing that well. A little gesture to one of our important guys, Nigel Stepney, who received a new baby and so I would like to dedicate that to him. He always does a great job, great effort. So, yes, thanks to all the guys and obviously we are happy and look forward to tomorrow.

Very few laps this morning, could you explain what the problem was and how that may have affected your thinking going into qualifying?
MS: Basically just one part of the heat shield caught fire. It got hot for whatever reason, probably being too close to the hot parts. That’s pretty unusual, honestly, but not too much of a concern for the future because we know how to fix that but obviously it meant that we could run very little this morning and had a lot of work for the mechanics.

What were your expectations going into this race, bearing in mind it is the home Grand Prix not only for Renault but also for Michelin?
MS: Yeah, well, I don’t think it really matters where you are. Obviously they have a lot of jobs to do during a weekend like this but finally when you’re on the track, you don’t really care much where you are, especially in qualifying. You’re so concentrated, you’re so focused, so naturally we are happy wherever it is to have pole position and to have Felipe that close to me in second position.

Felipe, congratulations to you too, on the front row again for Ferrari.
Felipe Massa: Yeah, it was very good, very good qualifying for us. Like Michael, I had a little problem with my car, with the clutch and we tried to fix the car in practice this morning, but the time was really tight and I almost lost the possibility to go out in first qualifying, so let’s say also it was a fantastic job from my mechanics as well, and I have to say that the people did a great job. The car is good so tomorrow will be a very interesting race. I’m sure it’s going to be close, but hopefully we can be in front.

Refinements in this race to the qualifying system, what was that like from your point of view and any affect on strategy for tomorrow?
FM: Honestly, from my point of view, it doesn’t change a lot, it just changes the burning of fuel at the beginning of qualifying. Instead of managing to do ten fuel burning laps, we maybe do four or five, so it doesn’t change a lot for us.

Fernando, it looked as if we had a bit of a rehearsal for the Grand Prix tomorrow in the opening laps of the burning phase of Q3 there.
Fernando Alonso: Yeah, the same as Indianapolis, it seems the most interesting part of qualifying at the moment. We tried to be at the front of the queue for the fuel burning laps and you know we managed to do it at the green light, in the pit lane and then Michael overtook me. I think the important thing is to be back here in the conference, in the top three. At Indianapolis, I had a bad weekend and now we’re back to normal positions here so I’m happy and confident for tomorrow.

We saw you sliding around a little bit at the end of practice yesterday. We had a lot of rain yesterday; what sort of weekend has it been for you in terms of the grip and balance of the Renault?
FA: It was OK. We honestly didn’t change the car’s set-up too much from the beginning to the end. OK, the overall grip is sometimes not fantastic, depending on the temperatures, as we saw today. In P3, I think the Michelins were a little bit dominant in terms of times but now with more temperature on the track, all the Bridgestones are in the top ten in Q3. The overall grip depends on the temperature but the car’s balance is always still good.

Michael, finally, your thoughts on the race tomorrow: interesting strategies out there, an interesting day, Michelin versus Bridgestone as well.
MS: Yeah, due to the fact that you have the new qualifying procedure, and burning less fuel, it obviously opens up windows for the strategies, it changes slightly. We’ll have to see what that means to the field, who is going to chose what, but yeah, it looks to be an interesting race tomorrow.

Press Conference

Michael, another interesting race, as it were, in qualifying. How was it for you?
MS: Yeah, it’s interesting. We already had a little battle, a little race going in Indianapolis. They should give points for these sort of things. It was nice.

Is it because you’re missing five minutes now from the final qualifying session that it’s important to be out at the front in final qualifying. How much are you missing those five minutes in final qualifying?
MS: So you run five minutes less, that’s it.

It doesn’t make it more important to be first out on the circuit?
MS: No, no. Percentage-wise, maybe even less, because you’re doing less laps in the minutes available.