Ralf frustrated by qualifying crash

The Toyota driver made contact with Spyker's Sakon Yamamoto at the end of the first qualifying segment, the German's car taking off before landing and suffering heavy damage.

Although Schumacher made it to Q2, he was unable to run and had to settle for a disappointing 16th place in Toyota's home race.

"The conditions out there were not too bad but visibility was quite poor," said Schumacher. "In general it wasn't a problem for us to drive but there was obviously not much grip and with the water on track there was a lot of spray.

"There's not a lot to say about the incident with Yamamoto at the end of Q1. I thought he had seen me. He moved to the outside and seemed to decide fairly late to turn in - I guess he hadn't seen me. I expected him to leave the door open and when he didn't that was it really.

"The car felt okay so it was disappointing not to be able to take part in Q2. It will be hard from where we are on the grid but I will do my best and hopefully make up some positions."

Toyota's poor day was completed by Jarno Trulli's 14th place, the Italian unable to fight for a place in the top ten as the track began to dry up.

"We pushed as hard as possible," Trulli said. "The first session was pretty good in terms of car balance and grip. The conditions were acceptable but there was a lot of spray. We started with a completely wet track but in the middle of the second session it dried up a bit.

"I was actually more competitive in the wet conditions than at the end with a drier track. Tyre wear and the tyre pressures getting a little high at the end of the session made it hard, even though the track itself was getting quicker if you look at other people's laptimes.

"We just couldn't set a better time. It is unfortunate and certainly disappointing but we will just have to see what we can do in the race. I hope we can get a better result tomorrow."