Ferrari happy with tyre work

After ending the first free practice session in first and second places the Ferrari drivers failed to set the second session alight as Williams and McLaren upped their performance. However, Friday's times are meaningless and the team and drivers remain confident that they'll be a force to be reckoned with come qualifying and the race

"We have concentrated mainly on tyre comparison in order to make our decision tomorrow," said Michael Schumacher, who was third fastest. "Because of that, we have not done any work on car set-up for qualifying, but we still have plenty of time to do that tomorrow morning. The gap to the quickest today is pretty small."

The championship leader lost track time in the first session after contact with the wall, an incident he admitted was his own fault.

"I brushed the wall this morning because I was just going too fast and ran wide."

Rubens Barrichello set the pace in the opening session, but dropped back to eighth in the afternoon.

"I just had a few problems with the brakes in the second hour and have not yet found the right settings for them," he said. "Apart from that, I am not worried as the car is quite well balanced."