Ralf not worried about Ferrari advantage

The German was third fastest in qualifying, behind his brother and his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya. The Colombian had struggled with his car balance this morning, but praised his engineering team for transforming the car for his flying lap.

"My car was not at all bad," said Schumacher. "I experienced some understeer, but this is something we can sort out, so in summary it was a good Friday session. Ferrari seem to be very strong here, which is no surprise. I think the circuit's lay-out and the current weather conditions suit the Ferrari package pretty well. However, we have had similar gaps to Ferrari on Fridays before now, so I am not too worried."

Montoya was happy with his car, but reckoned more improvements were needed in order to beat Ferrari. "My car was well balanced in qualifying and it felt really good," he said. "It's an improvement as this morning I had a bit of a struggle finding the balance and I thought qualifying could be tough.

"My engineers and all the team did an excellent job in setting up my car so well, and they deserve my thanks. However, I hope there's more to come in our car for Saturday because Ferrari is going to be very strong here."