Length: 5.418 km
Number of Laps: 60 (308.863 Km)
Best Lap: M. Schumacher - 1'29''468 (2004, Ferrari)
Record Pole: M. Schumacher - 1'28''351 (2004, Ferrari)
2005 Pole: N. Heidfeld - 1'30''081 (Williams)
2005 Podium: F. Alonso - N. Heidfeld - R. Barrichello

Q: Felipe, also looking strong all weekend and carrying on the good work from Imola.
Felipe MASSA: Yeah, it’s definitely very good for us to start on the first and second row. I think I did a good lap. It was a little bit windy; during the whole qualifying session it was not so easy to do a good lap. I’m quite happy to be here and as Michael said, we feel quite strong for the race. We have a good package, so hopefully tomorrow the pictures will be very good as well.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Michael, were you a bit surprised by the Renault speed?
MS: No.

Q: You were very quick this morning but they have become very quick this morning and have been certainly quick this weekend.
MS: Yeah, but they never been slow all season, so I’m not really surprised they’re that quick.

Q: Did you change the car much from yesterday to today?
MS: We always work on the car. We always do some detailed work. At this circuit we haven’t necessarily the need to make big changes.

Q: But as things have gone so far, it’s been a regular weekend for you then?
MS: Yep.

Q: Are you disappointed not to be on pole then with things like your traffic problems?
MS: It wasn’t necessarily a problem because the lap itself was free. The preparation was not as great but nevertheless, I’m pretty happy to be alongside Fernando on the front row and with Felipe just behind Fernando, so I think we will have a good performance tomorrow.

Q: Could this be a continuation of San Marino Grand Prix?
MS: Honestly, there is no reason why we should not be strong anywhere anytime.

Q: So still confident?
MS: Yep.

Q: Felipe, are you pleased to be third on the grid because you two have been pretty quick this weekend?
FM: Yeah, we’ve been quite quick and I’m quite happy. I think we were quick the whole time because we have a good package. I thought they did a great job last week and pretty much I know we have a very strong car for the race tomorrow and it is always very good to start in the top three.

Q: Was qualifying hectic with the two of you coming in for pit-stops at the same time? Fernando was on his own.
FM: Yeah, it was very tricky in this qualifying to find the right moment to go out and to try to avoid the traffic. Basically, I thought today there were maybe six or seven cars together in a very small gap between each other, so it was difficult to find my way, but we managed to have good luck. In the end, it was very difficult to find a free way in qualifying and this time it was no problem.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Michael, one lap was very quick and the other two were not. Was that just related to the track or had it something to do with the set-up of the car?
MS: As you know, we’re not allowed to work on the set-up.

Q: (Juha Päätalo – Financial Times Germany) Michael, one thing that’s important here is the tyre performance of Bridgestone. Until now, how happy are you with the tyre performance on long runs and how confident are you for the race tomorrow?
MS: Very confident. I think we understood what we did in Imola, we knew what changes we had to do to not run the same troubles and still have a good performance.