Schumacher Predicts Strong Challenge from BAR

Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher predicted that BAR-Honda will push him hard for victory in Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix after he was outpaced by Takuma Sato in the second free practice session on Friday.

Six-time champion Schumacher, who has won six of the opening seven races, expects to face his biggest challenge at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where he is looking to score his seventh victory there.

He tipped BAR-Honda as the team to watch before the weekend got underway and after Sato topped the times he reaffirmed his thoughts and said: "I think BAR will be the ones to watch over the weekend to compete for pole position and for the race win.

"We have an engine spec here that is a bit stronger than we had in the last race. But the critical thing is to be prepared (for brake problems) and we are, because of the experience we had last year."

Schumacher was quickest in the opening hour on Friday, but struggled in the second session as he brushed the wall at turn nine and went off track again later in the session at turn eight.

"I had a kiss at the wall and my wheel didn't take it so well," said Schumacher, whose only defeat of the season came when he crashed into the wall during the Monaco Grand Prix in May.

"You drive and try to find the right limit and, especially here at this track, if you come off the line only a slight bit then it is very slippery and sometimes you end up in the wall.

"But most of the time the temperature gets higher over the day and the times tend to go down (on a Friday). Most of the time at the end you tend to drive longer runs with different set-ups and work more for the race."