Ralf 'surprised' to be fastest on Friday

Schumacher led the way from Williams team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya by a quarter of a second, but thinks there will be much more time to come when it matters tomorrow.

"I am quite surprised to be at the front, since I took it quite easy on my qualifying lap," said Schumacher. "My car was simply perfect, brilliantly balanced, and the tyres behaved very well too. I can only be happy with this result, also because it shows we have solved a few problems we had in this morning's free practice.

"Now I am looking forward to a good qualifying and a good race, especially because the weather forecast is predicting hot conditions, which will suit our package," he added.

Montoya said: "I could have done slightly better if I hadn't braked too early for the hairpin, but all in all I am happy with this afternoon's performance. I believe we look good for the race too."