Schumacher Not Making Predictions

Ferrari's seven-times World Champion Schumacher managed the fourth best lap in this morning's practice session, but was only the 11th fastest in the afternoon.

Schumacher, five times a winner in Monaco, is in desperate need of another victory in the season's glamour event to end his team's run of six races without success - their worst performance since Schumacher arrived in 1996.

The Ferrari driver, however, has struggled in qualifying this season, and things did not look promising after a vibration forced him to limit his running to just 11 laps in the afternoon.

After retiring in Spain, the German will be among the first cars to go out in qualifying, which will be a big handicap.

"This morning, we were very competitive and looked in pretty good shape and I was happy with the car," said Schumacher. "Unfortunately, the car did not run well this afternoon, as I picked up a vibration that got worse as the session went on, so we felt it was best to stop so that we could analyse what was going on.

"That's the way it is at this circuit, in that if you have a small problem you lose a lot of track time and because of that it is hard for me to predict what will be the situation in qualifying on Saturday."

Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello also failed to shine in today's sessions, finishing down in 15th place with a car he claimed was difficult to drive.

"I was not very happy with the car today," said the Brazilian. "In the morning, I was unhappy with the set-up on my brakes and this afternoon, it was a more general difficulty with the set-up and other elements of the package The car was actually better this afternoon in some respects, but the handling was difficult.

"But, I have every faith in the team and I am sure we can improve the situation. At this track, the driver can make a difference, which is a positive factor, as is the fact we have an extra day now to think about what to do. Qualifying will definitely be tough."