Schuey relished Montoya scrap

After the first corner accident, Schumacher was initially concerned about his brother Ralf, who had launched his Williams over the back of Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari. "I was afraid to turn into the first corner because I suddenly saw cars flying next to me, so I decided, like Kimi [Raikkonen], to go straight on and have a nice ride through the grass," he said.

"I was worried about my brother at first. When cars fly like that you can hurt yourself badly if they end up in the wrong place. But on the radio they told me he was fine and on one of the screens I saw him running, so I knew he was okay."

Schumacher was then stuck behind Jarno Trulli's Renault and said: "He was basically shutting the door everywhere even though he was a lot slower and I'm not sure that it was appropriate at that time. But I enjoyed the scrap with Juan Pablo, which went back and forwards a bit. I think the tyres played a bit of a role in that. At first I struggled to get the temperature in them, whereas the Michelin guys seemed to get on top of the temperatures. But then it turned around; their tyres went off and mine came in and I was finally able to take the lead."

Montoya said: "I thought we were going to be competitive but as soon as he got temperature in his tyres there was nothing I could do. He was way too fast and it was just a matter of time."

Montoya had earlier outbraked Schumacher into Turn 1 but this time the Ferrari went in on a wider line and got a better exit to snatch the lead back.

Schumacher is still not sure whether Ferrari will debut their new car in Malaysia or stay with a chassis that is obviously still up to the job. "We will make the decision after next week's testing," he said.