Schuey reckons pole is critical

Schumacher's 1m14.741s lap was good enough to place the German fastest overall in today's two free practice sessions, but he is under no illusions that selecting the right compound Bridgestone tyre for the rest of the weekend will be key to his race performance. Particurlarly since the Japanese tyre manufacturer has brought a super-soft tyre along for the weekend to eradicate the early-race drop-off in performance the Ferraris have struggled with recently.

"We worked well throughout the day, improving the car all the time as can be seen from the fact I was quickest at the end of both sessions," said Schumacher. "I think qualifying here will be very close so, although this is a positive sign, I don't think today means so much and we will only see the real picture on Saturday."

Todt agrees: "For our part, we have sufficient data to give us a clear picture of what we can expect from our Bridgestone tyres. There is nothing to stop us thinking we will be competitive, but we know qualifying, which is more important here than elsewhere, will be very close. Grid position on a track where overtaking is almost impossible will play a key role in the final result."

Rubens Barrichello's weekend has got off to a difficult start, but still he managed to end Thursday's free practice hours third fastest overall.

The Brazilian lost valuable time this morning to a set-up problem and has been feeling under the weather all day. "I had a big problem with the set-up this morning, but now we have made a very good improvement," he said. "As usual we concentrated more on the race than on qualifying. I have a bit of a cold, so I was not so comfortable in the car as it was hot and my breathing was difficult."