MONZA, Italy -- Whether Michael Schumacher announces his
retirement or not this weekend, one thing remains unchanged -- he's
still driving as fast as ever.
While Schumacher missed out on the pole for Sunday's Italian
Grand Prix by two-thousandths of a second, he put considerable
distance between himself and championship leader Fernando Alonso on
the starting grid.
Schumacher qualified second Saturday and will start alongside
pole sitter Kimi Raikkonen.
Alonso was dropped from fifth to 10th on the starting grid for
blocking Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa, who qualified
fourth.
Schumacher is expected to announce his retirement after Sunday's
race.
Schumacher trails Alonso by 12 points with four races remaining,
and Ferrari is poised to overtake Alonso's Renault team in the
constructors' standings. Renault holds a two-point lead.
Pat Symonds, Renault's executive director of engineering, called
the penalty "a surprising decision."
"Massa was 100 meters [behind]. Check the speed and time and
you can work it out," Symonds said.
Symonds added that Alonso was going faster in the sector where
the infraction occurred than his previous laps.
"It's a strange way to impede someone, going faster than you
were before," he said.
Schumacher is expected to announce his retirement after Sunday's
race.
He says speculation about his retirement hasn't affected him.
"It's [more] a distraction to other people than us,"
Schumacher said. "It would be nice to be on pole in our home grand
prix but the important thing is to perform tomorrow."
Raikkonen earned the 11th pole of his career and third this
season. Raikkonen also started first in the German and Hungarian
GP's, although the McLaren-Mercedes driver has yet to win this
year.
"It could go either way tomorrow, but I'm quite confident,"
said Raikkonen, who finished third in Germany and smashed into the
back of Vitantonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso in Hungary.
Raikkonen covered the Monza circuit in 1 minute, 21.484 seconds
on his final lap of qualifying. The Finn is expected to replace
Schumacher at Ferrari next season.
Schumacher was second in 1:21.486, and Nick Heidfeld was third
in 1:21.653 for BMW-Sauber's best-ever qualifying result.
The right rear tire on Alonso's car punctured early in the final
qualifying session and some pieces of his Renault car flew off. The
Spaniard drove into the pits with only shreds of rubber hanging on
the wheel.
Alonso eventually returned to the track but couldn't catch the
leaders.
"We knew qualifying was the worst point of our weekend,"
Alonso said.
Massa said Alonso prevented him from posting a top-two time.
"It's a shame, because I felt capable of putting [the car] on
the front row," Massa said.