Schumacher Confident Despite Slow Start

World Champion Michael Schumacher is still confident for tomorrow's qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix despite finishing only sixth in today's practice.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen set the pace today, being 1.170 quicker than Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello with five times champion Schumacher sidelined for much of the second session with an hydraulic problem after lapping fastest in the morning.

Schumacher, chasing a record 11th win of the season and triumphant at Suzuka for the past two seasons, completed only four laps in the afternoon after earlier lapping 0.239 of a second faster than Barrichello. The Brazilian finished in third place.

Despite his problems, Schumacher was still confident of a strong qualifying, where he aims to score his fifth consecutive pole position at Suzuka.

"The morning part of the session went well as we worked on our usual Friday programme," said the German at the end of the second session. "However, this afternoon, I hardly did any laps, as my car developed a problem with the hydraulic system.

"We will now have to analyse exactly what caused it, but I am not concerned about this for tomorrow's qualifying session as I am sure we will be competitive, even if the gap between us and the non-Bridgestone teams seems a bit closer than usual. The track is a bit slippery at the moment, but that is normal here on the first day."