"Fifth and seventh places and 1.2 seconds from pole are not the result we would have wished for. Behind both Ferraris there were three Michelin teams with five cars within less than four tenths of a second," he said in a team press release.

Raikkonen's time of 1:17.519 secured him the higher placing. "The car was handling well today but there is still no doubt that it will be a difficult race," he commented. "I had a moment, which made me abandon my first run but apart from that there were no major dramas. We have some work to do to improve further, but I will give it my best and I'm sure we can get closer to the competition."

Coulthard's 1:17.662 saw him dropped out the top six by Juan Pablo Montoya's last-minute improvement to fourth place. 'We have taken a step forward with the car since yesterday, and the grip has improved, but we just didn't manage to get the best out of a run," he commented

"I had to abandon my third run because I had a lot of understeer through turn three. We have some work to get through before the race, but as always we will do our best and establish the right strategy to maximise the potential of the situation."

Team principal Ron Dennis added: "The drivers and their engineers have made significant improvements to the handling of the cars from yesterday. Tyre performance was much as we expected and therefore our grid positions are no great surprise. The outcome of the race will be very much a reflection of tyre choice and reliability."