Ralf didn't expect pole position in Canada

Ralf was able to set the fastest time in pre-qualifying and then back it up with pole position. A great turn around by the team

Ralf when interviewed would express his surprise in achieving pole position. In the post qualifying interview Ralf said: "I must admit we are a bit surprised. I had a big struggle on Friday due to brake problems and the team did a great job and just got the car right. Honestly, I did not expect to be as strong but already after Michael was out I thought this could be a rather good one but I didn’t expect pole position.

Such was the change in the car that it was not until the pre-qualifying session that Ralf was able to get the best out of the FW26. Ralf added: " ... the first qualifying! That was the first time the car started to feel right to me, to push, really, to be able to get the best out of it. I had some little mistakes in there but it didn’t cost me anything really. We expected to be somewhere maybe in the top five but fourth to sixth or something."

As for what the team changed to improve the balance of his car Ralf said that it was very much an up and down affair as the team chased the right balance of the FW26.The team changed the setup of his car quite extensively trying to improve its performance.

Ralf explained: "Well, on Friday I was more off the track than on the track due to brake problems. Really, we couldn’t really work on the car much because I couldn’t see anything. Then we went a bit up and down all Saturday morning and had a lot of work to do actually, so it was a bit of a difficult one, I must admit. I think due to the fact our car historically works quite well here and the experience we have got with this circuit, it was not such a problem but it eventually took us until the first qualifying where I was reasonably happy with the balance.

"We turned the set-up around before first qualifying quite a bit in order to just try and see how it was and luckily, well, not lucky, it was good."

As for the situation regarding his brakes Ralf felt that they had been sorted but the race would still be difficult in regard to brakes.

Ralf added: "They (the brakes) have been sorted but, I mean, Montreal is always very marginal on brakes. We know that from the past years but every team is the same, so it is going to be a difficult one, maybe for the race, for all of us, you know, I don’t know."

As for his chances in the race Ralf was confident of his chances but indicated that it would still be a difficult race. He said: "Being on pole position you are always confident you will have a good race but we clearly struggled so far this season, or let’s say for the last three or four races, so it is going to be a difficult one and certainly, with Jenson on my tail, clearly so far this year he has a quicker car, I just maybe got a bit better in qualifying. It is going to be a tough one anyway, but we will try out best and maybe I can repeat what I did a couple of years ago. We will see."

As for his Michelin tyres Ralf felt that they should not provide any problems for him, as they have been working well and are very stable.

Ralf said: "I don’t think we will have any problems in the race. We have seen some very stable and good lap times amongst the Michelin runners this morning as far as I am aware so I don’t have any doubt that we will be as strong in the race. So I guess it is going to be difficult for Ferrari this weekend. Let’s hope so."