BUDAPEST, 15 August 2004 — World champion Michael Schumacher set himself up for a record 12th victory of the season in today’s Hungarian Grand Prix when he claimed his 62nd career pole position here yesterday.
The Ferrari ace, who has now amassed six pole positions at the Hungaroring, set a time of one min 19.146 secs to finish 0.177 secs ahead of his Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello as Ferrari painted the front row red.
Schumacher suffered one of his worst races of the season here last year but he has won 11 of the 12 races so far this year and can expect to put in a strong performance in the race itself.
“It was significantly better compared to last year,” said Schumacher. “We put in a big effort in our last testing session and this was the result. It was a great effort from everyone.
“I’m not surprised how the grid has shaped up although I expected the McLaren’s to be running a little faster - but we do not know their strategy. “It is a bumpy and unpredictable track but that is what we prepare for.”
Barrichello admitted he was disappointed to have missed out on pole and claimed that starting from second and on the dusty side of the grid could harm his hopes of victory.
“It was a very good lap and I was disappointed not to get pole,” he said. “It was very smooth but Michael (Schumacher) did a good job to do a perfect lap. “This is one of the worst P2’s of the year because that side of the grid is very dirty. But the Ferrari has been good at the starts and I am looking forward to the race.”
BAR-Honda came in best of the rest but Japanese driver Takuma Sato finished 0.547 seconds behind in third with his British teammate Jenson Button just seven thousandths of a second behind in fourth.
“I am very happy to get onto the second row,” said Sato. “I feel great to be in P3 because we struggled in Indianapolis and then, in Germany, we came back. This is another step forward.”
Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who won here last year, also put himself in contention as he claimed the fifth fastest time and only strategies will tell whether he can put in a strong performance today.
Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, who was criticized for his qualifying performance on his debut for Williams at the last race, made amends when he finished sixth and out-qualified his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya by three hundredths of a second.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella finished eighth fastest for Sauber but his teammate Felipe Massa, who would have been penalized 10 places for changing an engine in morning practice, chose not to run and will start from the back.
