Schumacher 2nd Fastest In Japan


By Dale Calkins
October 7 2005

Ferrari was on pace today during the 2nd free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix, with Michael 2nd and Rubens 4th. Tyres were also the talk of the day as the teams needed to focus on wet tyres or dry grooved running as the race may go either way.

Schumacher 2nd Fastest In Japan

Schumacher 2nd Fastest In Japan

Dale Calkins
Michael Schumacher
FP 1: 18th - 1'33.886
FP 2: 2nd - 1'31.706

Michael Schumacher was certainly not on the pace in the first practice session in Japan, but in the second session he certainly was. Schumacher finished 2nd, behind Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta Here is what the. Schumacher remains confident that Ferrari can do well at Suzuka but he warns the Tifosi not to get their hopes up. Here is what the 7-Time World Champion had to say about his sessions:

"Driving at Suzuka is always good fun, however, I find it difficult to judge how we went today. We will have to study the data in depth. We definitely did better in the second session but the time difference is down to the fact that we were probably the only ones to run on new tyres before the rain came in the afternoon. But the times do not reflect our true position and there is no reason to think we can be stronger than in Brazil. The unpredictable weather could help our cause."

Rubens Barrichello
FP 1: 16th - 1'33.700
FP 2: 4th - 1'32.267

Rubens Barrichello was also slow in the first session but in the second practice he finished in 4th position. Ferrari continues to suggest that they have not improved too much, but with results like these and the possibility of a wet race, one has to wonder. Here is what the Brazilian had to say after his first day:

"At first, with new tyres, the balance was not so good on the first lap. Then, I found quite a good balance towards the end of the day when my car was running on tyres that had already done a few laps. So, I am reasonably confident as regards the rest of the weekend, as what counts is how the car was at the end."

Ross Brawn
Technical Director

Ferrari's Technical Director Ross Brawn is pleased with Ferrari's results but is worried about the tyre battle this weekend. Here is what Ross had to say:

"I think the times in the second hour reflect the fact we used new tyres then, when most of the other teams did that in the morning, expecting the rain to come a bit earlier than it did. We look in reasonable shape and the car is well balanced, but for both tyre companies, degradation seems quite high here at this track, so a lot will depend on how well the tyres hold up on Sunday afternoon."

October 7, 2005

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