Ralf Pleased Despite 'Nervous' Williams

Williams driver Ralf Schumacher was happy with fourth place in today's practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, but said his BMW-powered FW24's handling was far from ideal.

"We can be reasonably happy for the first day," said Schumacher, who was the quickest of the Williams. "The car is still very nervous in the quicker parts of the circuit, which we have to sort out for tomorrow. In the first session we concentrated mainly on brakes in view of the great pressure they'll be put under during the race.

"In the second session we changed the set-up quite a lot, which has paid off. The grip level of the track improved sensibly during the sessions, which really helped our laptimes to get better."

Both Schumacher and teammate Juan Pablo Montoya were losing time in the third sector of the Sepang circuit, the most twisty part of the track, after being close to the top in the first two.

Colombian Montoya, who finished in second place in Australia two weeks ago, set the sixth quickest time today, and like his German teammate, he reckoned the Williams could still be improved to suit the Malaysian circuit.

"We have been working hard today, as the car was quite difficult to drive at the start, but it has definitely improved in the second session," Montoya said. "There is certainly some more room for improvement though. We also did some brake and tyre work, with which we are reasonably happy."