The seven-time World Champion failed, for the fourth successive grand prix, to make it through to the qualifying shoot-out, finishing up in 12th place.
Schumacher, though, reckons that's the best he could have achieved as he struggled with the balance of his W01 throughout the weekend.
"I am obviously not very happy with our qualifying today but my position is probably what my car was giving me," Schumacher said.
"We did not have a perfect balance, especially in some corners where the car was a bit loose, but then we did not come here expecting to achieve a great performance.
"However the race will be long tomorrow and having been welcomed so nicely by all of my Italian fans, I obviously wish to at least grab some points for them."
His team-mate Nico Rosberg had a better afternoon as he qualified in seventh place, a second off the pace of the leading Ferrari of Fernando Aloonso.
"Seventh place is definitely the best performance that was possible for us today so both I and the team can be pleased with that. However we obviously want to be further up the grid so we shouldn't get too used to being happy with such results.
"In race trim, we are probably a little stronger than in qualifying, so I can hopefully gain a place or two tomorrow if something happens amongst the top six guys, and look to achieve some good points."
Source: http://www.planetf1.com