Schumacher and Barrichello put Ferrari in the driving seat

WORLD champions Ferrari made the perfect start to their home race yesterday as Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello claimed the top two spots in the first qualifying session.

Schumacher, who has endured his worst start to a Formula One season after failing to finish on the podium in the opening three races, set the pace with a best lap of 1min 20.628sec to take provisional pole.

The German, who lowered team-mate Rubens Barrichello’s lap time by almost half-a-second after the Brazilian had set a blistering pace, admitted the result was expected.