Schumacher says car not quick enough

Schumacher, who hopes to re-energise his championship title hopes on the Canadian track this weekend, could do no better than the 15th best time in the afternoon session.

The German, chasing an unprecedented eighth win in Canada, was fourth quickest in the morning.

"As usual on the first day here in Montreal, the track is very slippery and we in particular suffered with quite a significant loss of grip," said Schumacher, who is 23 points behind Renault rival Fernando Alonso in the championship standings.

"We were not quick enough and we have to study the data to see how to improve. Obviously the gap separating us from our rivals today is a big one, but we know the situation can change rapidly. It's down to us to work hard as all the changes will be working in our favour."

Teammate Felipe Massa endured a difficult day, finishing down in 22nd position. Despite that, the Brazilian is upbeat for the rest of the weekend.

"It was quite a difficult day," he said. "Today I concentrated mainly on studying the behaviour of one of the two types of tyre Bridgestone has brought here for us. Track conditions and temperatures made life difficult, a bit similar to what happened in Monaco a month ago.

"Now we have to work out how to improve the situation, taking into account that the grip which was lacking today, should come good tomorrow bit by bit as the cars run on the track. But I am still confident for the rest of the weekend."