HE may be known as The Rainmeister, but Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari team are praying the clouds give Shanghai a miss today as he aims to keep his world title hopes alive at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The German qualified in sixth place for the race as he attempts to finally overhaul world champion Fernando Alonso in a fascinating battle for this year's drivers' crown.

But with the Spaniard claiming pole position alongside Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella in the wet, Schumacher's hopes of victory seem dependant on the weather.

Should it rain, the seventime world champion is unlikely to add to his 90 grand prix victories given the struggles tyre manufacturer Bridgestone have had in such conditions at the Shanghai International Circuit, where Schumacher was the only driver using the Japanese brand to qualify in the top 10.

"We did the best we could in these conditions as our chances were damaged by the rain and sixth was the best I could do, " said Schumacher, who historically thrives in the wet. "You could call it a damage limitation operation. We still have the race ahead of us and, from the third row of the grid, we can still aim for a good result given that in the dry, we have proven to be very competitive."

Schumacher impressed during yesterday's final practice session, clocking the fastest time before the rain fell to hamper his progress in qualifying.

But he remained upbeat on his hopes of winning an unprecedented eighth world title before retiring at the end of the season. "This qualifying session has not compromised my chances of winning the world championship, " he said.

"Apart from tomorrow's race, there are still two grands prix to go and everything is possible."

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn was left to lament the downpour that hit the circuit. "It's a shame as, in this morning's dry free practice, we saw that our package worked really well, " he said. "The weather forecast is for only a slight chance of rain for the period of the race. We have to keep our fingers crossed and hope it turns out to be accurate."

However, there are no such worries for Alonso, who leads the standings by two points with three races to go and will start with a clear track in front of him, just as he did for last year's event.

Alonso emerged victorious in that race and is confident of doing so again, no matter what the conditions.

"The points are normally for Sunday afternoon but we approach the race with a lot of confidence, whether it's dry or wet, " he said after qualifying. "We are very happy with the result today but we have to finish the job. As always, starting in pole position is a big help. It's difficult not to be on the podium in a normal race, you can lose three or four positions, so we are looking forward to having a good race, not only here but also in Japan and Brazil.

"The target and the main thing for us is to finish ahead of Ferrari in all three races and try to beat them in both championships."

The Spaniard paid tribute to Michelin, his team's tyre provider, who claimed nine of the top 10 positions on the grid. "We'll see how it goes but I was quite surprised with the pace of the car and how comfortable we were in qualifying so, for sure, the Renault was very, very competitive, " he said.

Honda's Rubens Barrichello has hung on to third place on the grid despite allegations of blocking Pedro de la Rosa during qualifying.

Barrichello was hauled up in front of stewards after a complaint from McLaren that the Brazilian had held up de la Rosa during the third session of qualifying following his exit from the pit lane.

However, after hearing from both drivers and viewing video evidence, officials blamed a "system fault" as a blue warning light was not illuminated and no blue flag was raised at the pit lane exit.

As a result, stewards decided not to take any action and Barrichello will start the race alongside teammate Jensen Button in an all-Honda second row behind Alonso.