Schumacher unhappy with performance

The Ferrari driver ended second practice 15th overall on the timesheets and, although there are some who believe the track will favour his Bridgestone tyres the more it gets rubbered in, the seven-time champion was pretty downbeat.

"Obviously, we cannot be too happy with what we have seen so far, although the results can be partly explained by the fact we used just one set of tyres, unlike many of the other drivers," he explained. "But I'm not trying to hide the fact that the situation is not looking that good.

"At the moment we are too slow and we have to study the data to find out why. There is work to do, but we have enough experience to get out of this situation."

Teammate Felipe Massa added: "It was not an easy day for us. We have a lot of work to do to be competitive in qualifying and the race. In the two hours of free practice we worked mainly on finding the right balance on the car, as well as assessing the two types of tyre available.

"We need a tyre that gives us speed in qualifying, but also consistency for the race. Now we will study the data to find the right compromise and this time, we have a whole extra day to look at it."

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn was more optimistic about the team's chances - and believes that the changing track would probably favour them more over the remainder of the weekend.

"Track conditions evolved rapidly during these free practice sessions and the  various red flags made the situation a bit more complicated. Honestly, today we did not get the performance we were expecting from the tyres, which suffered from a slight lack of grip.

"However, the aim is for the tyres to be at their best on Saturday and Sunday, not in free practice! Actually, I'm confident the situation will improve as the track gradually offers more grip and when there will be more rubber on the racing line.

"In these conditions, I think we will be stronger than we seemed to be today. The cars worked well and their balance is pretty good. I am optimistic about the rest of the weekend."