Free practice - First session
Michael Schumacher: 4th 1.17.640 16 laps chassis 245
Rubens Barrichello: 10th 1.18.838 16 laps chassis 246
Temperatures: air 23/24 °C, track 31/37 °C

Free practice – Second session
Michael Schumacher: 11th 1.17.170 11 laps chassis 245
Rubens Barrichello: 15th 1.17.663 25 laps chassis 246
Temperatures: air 25/24 °C, track 40/41 °C

Jean Todt: “The first day of the weekend is usually devoted to finding the best set-up and evaluating the two types of tyre available to us. Fine tuning the car is especially important here, because of the nature of the track. And on this aspect, we still have a lot of work to do, especially in light of the outcome of this afternoon’s session. Michael felt a vibration in his car and as a precautionary measure we decided to bring him into the pits. Despite the fact that he therefore lost the final part of the second hour, we have still picked up plenty of data. We have one and a half days ahead of us in which to analyse the situation in order to be as well prepared as possible for Saturday. Currently, it is hard to tell what is the true order among the teams, as we do not know what fuel loads the others were running.”

Michael Schumacher: “This morning, we were very competitive and looked in pretty good shape and I was happy with the car. Unfortunately, the car did not run well this afternoon, as I picked up a vibration that got worse as the session went on, so we felt it was best to stop so that we could analyse what was going on. That’s the way it is at this circuit, in that if you have a small problem you lose a lot of track time and because of that it is hard for me to predict what will be the situation in qualifying on Saturday.”

Rubens Barrichello: “I was not very happy with the car today. In the morning, I was unhappy with the set-up on my brakes and this afternoon, it was a more general difficulty with the set-up and other elements of the package The car was actually better this afternoon in some respects, but the handling was difficult. But, I have every faith in the team and I am sure we can improve the situation. At this track, the driver can make a difference, which is a positive factor, as is the fact we have an extra day now to think about what to do. Qualifying will definitely be tough.”

Ross Brawn: “Michael felt a vibration on his car and it got worse during the session, so we felt it was prudent to bring him in as this is not the circuit to take risks. We are not yet sure what the problem is. On Rubens’ car, I think we still have some work to do on set-up, as he was not totally happy with it. We will try and make some improvements. But generally, we are happy with the cars which seemed to be well balanced, until we went the wrong way with Rubens’ set-up and Michael had that problem. The track gets quicker all the time and I am sure we will recover for Saturday and it is good that we have a spare day tomorrow.”

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