Schumacher cautious despite strong pace

Michael Schumacher ended the rain-hit first day of practice as the fastest race driver, just behind BMW-Sauber's third driver Robert Kubica.

That pace proved that Ferrari are on course for another strong showing at Hockenheim, although they admit that title rivals Renault can probably do better than their times from Friday suggested.

Schumacher said: "At the moment, the situation seems pretty good, but we have to bear in mind that other teams have carried out different work programmes in terms of tyres today, which also explains the difference in the times.

"The weather reduced the track time at our disposal. Now we must study the data gathered carefully to get a realistic idea of the pecking order, but I think we have not yet seen the true potential of some of the teams."

With Felipe Massa pleased with the balance of his 248 F1 on the first day, despite the shorter than usual track time forced by the weather, sporting director Jean Todt was bullish.

"Obviously, it is much too early to draw any conclusions, but there are no apparent reasons why our package should not be competitive, as has been the case in the last few races," he said.

"We have to wait for qualifying to see if our package is good enough to beat our rivals and even more importantly in the race itself."