When the forecasted gales arrive today such consistency might prove invaluable

When the forecasted gales arrive today such consistency might prove invaluable.”I have a pretty low ball flight so I can keep it under the wind,’ Pettersson said. “I think I’m reasonably straight but this week I haven’t hit many drivers. I’ve hit a lot of two irons which has been working.”Behind him Finland’s Mikko Ilonen was also showing his liking for links golf by shooting a 70 to comfortably make the cut at one under. Two years ago at Hoylake, the 22-year-old from Lahti won the Amateur Championship and used his exemption at last year’s Open at Lytham to good effect by finishing joint ninth. This campaign, however, he has missed five out of eight cuts on the European Tour and is desperate for a high finish here if only to send him up the Order of Merit towards a 2003 card Muirfield may just prove his and Scandinavia’s salvation.. Perhaps it is the routine nature of events this week, but Michael Schumacher demonstrates scant sign of anxiety, tension or even concern.

He will confirm his latest title in record time if he wins tomorrow’s French Grand Prix and neither of his closest challengers, Rubens Barrichello or Juan Pablo Montoya, finishes second.Schumacher and his Ferrari team-mate, Barrichello, were outpaced in practice yesterday by the McLaren-Mercedes pair, David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen, but even the Anglo-German camp expect the normal order to be restored tomorrow afternoon.Coulthard, who ranks his victory here two years ago, when he overtook Schumacher, as his best, contends he will need a miracle of biblical proportions to repeat the feat. “If I pull off a win like that, then I will announce myself as the next Messiah,” the Scotsman said.The familiar heat in these parts ought to suit the McLaren’s Michelin tyres far better than the wet conditions of Silverstone a fortnight ago. Again, however, Coulthard sees no cause for optimism.He said: “We have had to compromise with Williams on the tyres, while Ferrari and Bridgestone have got such a strong thing going that I’d be surprised if they slipped up. Ferrari are still a step ahead.”Williams-BMW have regularly raised their game from the unspectacular on a Friday to prominence on the Saturday, and Montoya has taken pole position at the last four grands prix. Yesterday, the Colombian was down in 10th place after a spin into the gravel and his partner, Ralf Schumacher, fifth.”At present I am struggling with the balance of my car everywhere on the track,” Montoya said. “Due to the quite slippery nature of this circuit, I spun.”Michael Schumacher, too, had a spin on an otherwise business-like day for Ferrari.

The team introduced a new aerodynamic package and Ross Brawn, the technical director, expressed his satisfaction with the modification. Schumacher, who maintains he does not expect to wrap up the championship here, said: “As normal at this circuit when it gets hot, the surface becomes more slippery and you end up sliding around a lot. The other tyre company seem to be showing strongly here, but we have often been in this situation at the start of a weekend, only to find it changes in the race.”We planned to do a long run to see what the tyre performance was like. I think it will be close between us and our main competition in qualifying, but I believe we are in with a chance of fighting for pole position.”Eddie Irvine took his Jaguar to the heady heights of sixth place, making the most of the redesigned car and his Michelins.