Ralf Expects Challenging Weekend for Williams

Williams driver Ralf Schumacher is expecting a challenging Chinese Grand Prix weekend following today's practice at the Shanghai circuit.

Germany's Schumacher, returning for Williams after a six-race absence following his big crash in the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis in June, was second quickest in the morning practice session but only seventh fastest in the afternoon.

"Everything ran smoothly today," said Schumacher. "The circuit is really well designed. Driving here is a lot of fun as it is something really new, especially the long corners which offer brilliant overtaking opportunities on exit.

"There is still some work to do on the set-up and the tyre choice is not going to be too easy. All in all we expect a challenging but interesting weekend."

Schumacher's Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya failed to set a competitive time and finished down in 14th position.

"It's a nice track. It was quite dirty this morning to start with but then it cleaned up and was pretty good," said the Colombian. "I spent the first laps learning it and I think that I've got it now, but I didn't manage to put a very fast time in because I had some traffic on new tyres.

"Still we had a pretty consistent run and the data we have collected should give us the right direction. I know there's definitely more in the car and I am looking forward to some more running tomorrow to get the right set-up."