Schumacher Satisfied Despite Driving Error

Championship leader Michael Schumacher was pleased with his performance in today's free practice for the British Grand Prix despite missing the whole first session due to a driving error.

The German World Champion, looking for his seventh win in tenth races this season, made a mistake on his installation lap at the wet Silverstone circuit, spinning and stalling his Ferrari.

Schumacher was forced to watch the rest of the session from a deck chair but recovered in the afternoon and posted the second fastest time behind his Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello.

"Considering I only drove for one hour of practice today, I think our performance is reasonable," said Schumacher. "This morning I made a mistake and then spun. After that, we then faced an issue because the engine stalled which usually doesn't happen.

"The car seems quite competitive, although we don't know what the situation will be tomorrow, as conditions are expected to be dry. The intermediate tyres worked very well."

Barrichello, winner of the European Grand Prix two weeks ago, dominated both sessions with the Ferrari and was pleased with his work despite the rain.

"I am happy with the work we have done today," he said. "We based our programme on the data we acquired at the test here a month ago and were able to do a good job on a track where the conditions were changing very quickly.

"Compared to our situation at the test, we have made a further step forward in finding the best set-up for the car on this circuit."