Barrichello takes pole position for Chinese GP after Schumacher spins

ByABC News
June 17, 2014, 2:55 PM

— -- SHANGHAI, China -- Michael Schumacher starts Sunday's first Chinese Grand Prix in an unfamiliar place -- back of the pack. Officially, Schumacher is placed 19th out of 20 cars after spinning off the track in Saturday's qualifying for Formula One's third-to-last race of the season. Being so far back means a change of strategy for the seven-time world champion, who already has 82 career victories -- including 12 this season -- and has already clinched this year's championship. Schumacher and his Ferrari team might opt to change engines. That would give him a fresh engine, although rules would require him to drop further back. Wherever he ends up starting, it will be Schumacher's worst qualifying position as a Ferrari driver. In 1998 he had the pole position for the final race of the season, the Japanese GP, but stalled on the grid and was put to the back of the pack. In 1995, as a Benetton driver, he was 16th on the grid but went on to win the Belgian Grand Prix Schumacher's Ferrari teammate, Rubens Barrichello, has his third pole position of the year, his second in a row following victory in the Italian Grand Prix earlier this month. Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren, who won at Belgium in August, is in the front row with the Brazilian, with Jenson Button of BAR-Honda in the second row. Button is trying to help BAR-Honda hold on to its second place position in the team standings behind Ferrari and ahead of Renault. On Saturday, Schumacher lost control of his car barely five seconds into his qualifying lap, sliding into the gravel on the first turn. It was a first for the German, who said he didn't know what had gone wrong but joked of having the race in a "Ferrari sandwich," with him at the back and Barrichello in front. Schumacher already has wrapped up the drivers championship with 136 points, and Barrichello is second with 98. Barrichello can clinch second with a good showing in the race or a poor finish by Button, who is third with 71. Drivers take to the track after just two days of practice on the newly completed Shanghai International Circuit. An estimated 200,000 spectators are expected at the more than $300 million facility on Shanghai's western edge.