Hmm. So far so good: the Rubens Barrichello fan club's attempts to show that he's as good as Michael and can actually beat him in a race is pretty much on track. Now I'm not a member of that fun club, but I do think that Rubens is capable of putting on a pretty good show and we saw that today.

It's a measure of the sport that it all went so wrong for Michael this afternoon. He was so far ahead in the morning and seemingly unbeatable and yet this afternoon it all went so wrong. There is probably a good reason - Ross Brawn says it was a problem with the brakes - but with or without a perfect spare car - and it seems sometimes it's perfect enough to win races but not perfect enough to get pole - he was just not able to rival either his teammate or his brother.

Now don't get me wrong: I'm a great admirer of Michael as I am of most drivers in Grand Prix racing. They are at the pinnacle of a sport which comprises a huge number of potential pretenders, and to be the best is a great achievement. But today he showed that it can all go wrong; it's something that he and the team have feared and which is why Jean Todt is never confident and always emphasizes that the team must keep it's feet on the ground all the time.

There were more reasons for that. Michael and Rubens have both been off the circuit a fair few times here and although they haven't necessarily done much damage, there's no guarantee that they you don't do damage when you go rocking and rolling over a gravel trap. So that's an added danger, and an added threat.

What I find really curious is McLaren's downward spiral. It was certainly apparent in the Saturday morning session and was almost confirmed in the afternoon. Maybe they just don't like this place but Kimi has been right on the limit and occasionally over it and David just hasn't been competitive. The team has been limiting its laps when it needs to sort the car - or perhaps that wouldn't have helped. But Michael, for instance, did two runs of 12 laps each in the morning session, and if ever there was proof that laps means progress it has to be Olivier Panis getting into the top ten for the first time this year.

But another look at the speed trap times reveals the ongoing problem. Raikkonen is fourth slowest and Coulthard slower than Yoong and only quicker than Webber! They are around 7kph slower than Ralf, Michael, Bernoldi and Heidfeld and nine slower than Barrichello. A source says that this situation is unlikely to improve.

Meanwhile Williams proved what effect a cool head can have when Montoya suffered a catalogue of problems in qualifying but both the Colombian himself and the team knuckled down and sent him on his way at the end to slot into fourth fastest. Sauber are doing great things too: you have put that money on them, haven't you? I told you to!

Toyota are looking good, Arrows should have been better although Bernoldi is a lot quicker on the straight than Frentzen. And then things get a bit sad really. Renault are really suffering here and Jordan looked so good at the start of the weekend and for the first time have been eclipsed by at least one BAR with Panis doing the business. Jaguar and Minardi we know about.

Meanwhile there's a fair bit of dissent between some teams after the glorious entente cordiale of Friday's meeting. Prior to the weekend, Niki Lauda slagged off various teams for supposedly wanting to save money when running boats and jets etc, although many doubted from what position of strength he was talking. However the Friday afternoon meeting passed off happily without further problems and a vow to talk things up in future.

Unfortunately, Paul Stoddart had already said that Eddie Jordan would be telling anyone who listened that he would be out of business if costs weren't cut. And he suggested that Tom Walkinshaw was saying the same. This is precisely the kind of bad news scenario that the teams were trying to avoid but instead, it surfaces after the meeting, with Jordan and Walkinshaw desperate to tell anyone that they never said any such thing. So much for that entente cordiale.

Thank heavens for a bit of comedy, provided by Ralf Schumacher and the Bad Hair Day. Yes, Ralf turns up as a blonde at A1-Ring, but saying that it's all been a terrible mistake. The story is that Mrs Schumacher decided that she fancied a blonde, which is why she turned him into one. Whatever, his fellow drivers thought it was all a good laugh, and he was received with catcalls and all kinds of backhanded compliments in the drivers' briefing on Friday.