Schumacher remains cautious

Although the duo were comfortably clear of the opposition in the second session, after a morning spent overcoming handling problems on their F2004s, Schumacher still has question marks about the performance of their cars over long-runs - something that is not reflected in the end-of-day timesheets.

"It was a complicated day as I seemed to run into a lot of traffic out on the track," he said. "It made it quite difficult to push to the end of the programme we had set ourselves, but I guess it is the same for everyone here and we have enough data to know which way to go on set-up.

"I am not sure where we are in terms of consistency of performance, but over a single lap, we look very strong. The track is very bumpy which adds to the difficulty, but all in all, we are looking good and should be in the fight for the win."

Barrichello was obviously delighted at his perfect start to his home grand prix - and believed that he has every chance of ending his Brazilian GP curse this weekend providing Ferrari works through its programme in a methodical manner.

He said: "I am very pleased and listening to the reaction of the crowd brought a smile to my face. More than that, the car has been behaving quite well throughout today's sessions. It is well balanced and the team has done a good job. Now, we just have to keep our cool and try and improve the car even more and I am sure we will be competitive for the rest of the weekend."