Mixed emotions for Trulli

Jarno Trulli confessed his history-making pole position for the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis was tainted by safety concerns.

The Italian gave Toyota their first-ever Formula One pole position after a stunning qualifying lap today but admitted to “mixed emotions” following a difficult 24 hours.

Trulli’s team-mate Ralf Schumacher crashed heavily yesterday in practice, forcing him to pull out of the event amid worries that another hefty smash would risk serious injury.

Schumacher’s accident was caused by a puncture similar to the problem suffered by Toyota tester Ricardo Zonta just a few minutes earlier, prompting serious safety fears.

Tyre supplier Michelin can find no explanation for Schumacher’s puncture and will advise their seven teams to withdraw from the race tomorrow if a solution is not found.

Trulli admitted those problems had shaken his confidence in driving at close to 200mph just inches from concrete walls, saying: “I don’t feel 100% confident with our package.”

He added: “It has been a weekend of mixed emotions. We did our best today. It has been a great day for me and for Toyota to get our first pole position.

“It has so far been a difficult time for everybody here except for us.

“We came here from three races where we have had very bad luck, we came here with a lot of expectations and on Friday we had two crashes, one from Ralf and one from Ricardo.

“It is not at all chassis-related. We have had the same trouble with different tyre pressure and different tyre types. It is not set-up, it is something else.”

Trulli’s third pole position kept McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen off top spot and last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix winner had to make do with second.

The Finn, who is Fernando Alonso’s nearest challenger in the title race, is confident ahead of tomorrow’s race and hopes Trulli’s strategy will play into McLaren’s hands.

Raikkonen said: “I thought it was a pretty good lap, similar to what I did this morning.

“I was happy with it, we just have to wait and see what the others are like with their pit stops.

“I would rather be in the first place but I think we have a very strong race car. Hopefully we can run a little bit longer than the other guys.”

Jenson Button bounced back from car problems in practice to set the third fastest time in qualifying.

The BAR-Honda driver, who was on pole position last weekend in Canada before crashing out of the race, was surprised to find himself on the second row after admitting his lap had been far from perfect.

“I was slightly disappointed with the lap but ended up third so it was not too bad,” he said.

“I struggled a lot with very low grip. It’s great to be third and I think we can do great things from here.

“It’s nice to be here and I think our strategy is a good one. I am looking forward to it.

“We were quick last year so it’s nice to be back up here in qualifying. The qualifying pace is good and let’s hope the race pace is good as well.”

Giancarlo Fisichella qualified fourth to beat world championship leader Fernando Alonso, who will have his work cut out if he is to fight for a fifth win of 2005 from sixth on the grid.

World champion Michael Schumacher followed up his second place in Canada last weekend with an encouraging lap to give him hope of another podium finish. The Ferrari driver starts fifth with team-mate Rubens Barrichello seventh.

David Coulthard suffered a qualifying lap to forget as he lost valuable time due to a mistake and slipped to 16th for Red Bull.