Schumacher Takes Pole in the San Marino Grand Prix

As Michael Schumacher celebrated breaking a 12-year-old record after taking pole position for today's San Marino Grand Prix, Jenson Button and Honda were more interested in the here and now as they focused again on converting a front-row starting position into their first victory.

Schumacher usually prefers to play down the growing list of records attributed to his name, but on this occasion the seven-time world champion acknowledged the poignancy of the occasion as he finally eclipsed Ayrton Senna's tally of 65 pole positions by doing it at the track where the Brazilian died during the race in 1994.

'The record is not so important in some ways because we are focusing on the job we have to do this weekend,' said Schumacher. 'It's something to look at and appreciate when you've finished racing. But yes, it's a good feeling to do it here at Imola because of Ayrton, but also because I'm an ambassador for San Marino and this is a reward for the team and the Ferrari fans after all the problems we've had recently.'

It could be argued that Honda's difficulties have been even more acute as Button's team have failed to provide a race-winning car after the Englishman has shown consistently good form during qualifying. The team have worked relentlessly during the past three weeks to cure a problem that caused Button to slide down the leaderboard in Melbourne because his car could not generate enough heat in its Michelin tyres.

Their embarrassment may have been exacerbated when Button's engine failed spectacularly without warning on the last lap, but, paradoxically, Honda's determination to get the root of the problem provides an illustration of the dedication and commitment necessary to be competitive in Formula One.

Within two days, the Honda engineers had been able to determine from the damaged remains of the V8 that a piston failure - unexpected and not seen during thousands of miles of racing and testing - had caused Button's fiery exit. In the road-car industry, it takes between four and five years to complete an engine project. If a piston failure occurs during development, finding a cure can take months. The Honda team were about to utilise a 40-year racing heritage to solve this particular problem in a matter of days.

By the end of the week, the piston had been redesigned, manufactured, built into a new engine and tested on a dynamometer in Honda's Research and Development Centre in Tochigi, Japan. Engineers, running a 24-hour shift programme in the engine test house, had validated the new part and all that remained was to gain confirmation during a test session with the car on the race track. The engine was flown to Spain for a test that proved successful the next week, thus allowing the completion of enough new engines to see Button and Rubens Barrichello through this weekend.

Honda were assisted by a rare break of three weeks between Melbourne and Imola. Had the calendar been following its usual fortnightly pattern, the track testing would not have been completed in time and Honda would have faced the dilemma of whether to run the new piston or, on the premise of the devil you know, remain with the old, on the basis that there had been only one failure.

'It would have been a dilemma in some ways,' said Otmar Szafnauer, vicepresident of the F1 Honda Racing Team. 'But we would have gone with the new piston. After all, we had done enough on the dynamometer and the track test was merely confirmation of the validation achieved on the test bed. This is a classic example of the challenges presented by motor racing.'

While Honda's efforts in overcoming this obstacle were largely carried out behind closed doors, a more public examination of their worth will take place during the course of 62 laps this afternoon. Button scored his first pole position here two years ago and finished second. Going one better today has become a matter of urgency, even though the front-row starting position was a surprise.

'We were struggling a bit on Friday,' said Button. 'But we did a lot of work on the set-up of the car overnight and during free practice this morning and that's really improved it. I'm much happier with the car. I had a good run in race trim this morning, so we're as confident as we can be.'

Honda's rise in competitiveness was proved by Barrichello setting the third fastest time, ahead of the Ferrari of Felipe Massa and the leader of the championship, Fernando Alonso. After a disappointing start to the season, Barrichello has finally come to terms with the Honda. Having both drivers finish on the podium would be just reward for the efforts of the engineers. A win, though, may prove just as difficult as before thanks to a timely resurgence by Schumacher and Ferrari in front of the team's home crowd.

Schumacher has not won a race since his hollow victory at Indianapolis last June. Such a lengthy period without success is a personal record he prefers to not talk about.

How they line up

1 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:22.795

2 J Button (GB) Honda 1:22.988

3 R Barrichello (Bra) Honda 1:23.242

4 F Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:23.702

5 F Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:23.709

6 R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:23.772

7 JP Montoya (Col) McLaren 1:24.021

8 K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 1:24.158

9 J Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:24.172

10
M Webber (Aus) Williams 1:24.795

11
G Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:23.771

12
J Villeneuve (Can) BMW-Sauber 1:23.887

13
N Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:23.966

14
D Coulthard (GB) Red Bull 1:24.101

15
N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW-Sauber 1:24.129

16
V Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso 1:24.520

17
C Klien (Aut) Red Bull 1:25.410

18
S Speed (US) Toro Rosso 1:25.437

19
T Monteiro (Por) Midland 1:26.820

20
C Albers (Hol) Midland 1:27.088

21
T Sato (Jap) Super Aguri 1:27.609

22
Y Ide (Jap) Super Aguri 1:29.282

Next race: 7 May Europe (Nurburgring)