Schumacher expected to be closer

Schumacher, who caused uproar during Monaco qualifying two weeks ago, avoided similar controversy at Silverstone and filled an all-Ferrari second row with Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa right behind him in fourth place.

The seven-time champion, trailing pole-setter Fernando Alonso by 21 points in the championship, finished over three tenths of a second behind the Renault driver.

Schumacher admitted he was expecting to be closer to Alonso.

"I am not so sure it is so strong," said Schumacher of his third position. "We expected to be closer but we have to consider the fuel level. We have to see tomorrow what is the situation with that."

The Ferrari driver said the conditions at Silverstone have made the driving very tricky.

"We have not been here testing so I don't know what it was like on the test," Schumacher added. "According to the laptimes something is different here, but it is the same conditions for everybody.

"It is a bit tricky to adapt the car to the circumstances. It was tricky yesterday and today we managed reasonably and we will see tomorrow."