Schumacher not making predictions

Schumacher, fresh from his dominant win at the United States Grand Prix, was only sixth fastest today, with Alonso, the quickest of the racing drivers, nearly half a second ahead of the Ferrari driver.

"This is something I cannot judge at the moment. It is too early to judge," said Schumacher of Renault's performance. "I have not seen the full data yet. But in general it doesn't seem too bad, although I have not studied it in great detail yet."

Ferrari are introducing several improvements in their cars this weekend, in the hope to continue with their momentum following the Indianapolis win.

Schumacher said the changes were a step forward, but warned not too expect too much from them.

"We have some new things, but they are just developments. It is not a new car," he said.

"In some areas we have developed the car, as we have at a lot of races. I am sure we will get a step forward but it always depends on how it compares to the steps forward the other teams have made. And that we will only see over the weekend.

"Every race is a different story. As I have said before, it is difficult to say how much momentum we have got from that race because every race is a different story."

Schumacher is 19 points behind Alonso in the standings with eight races remaining.