Friday March 29th, 2002

World Champion Michael Schumacher is expecting a tough challenge from the Michelin runners at this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.

The German driver was the main attraction today, as Ferrari's F2002 made its racing debut after being left in Italy for the first two Grands Prix of the season. Schumacher was a second quicker than his rivals in the first session, but finished only fifth in the second, behind the quickest of the Bridgestone-shod drivers.

The four-time World Champion was happy with the initial running of the new Ferrari, but is expecting a difficult battle to beat the Michelin-shod McLarens and Williams.

"This is the first time we have run the new car on this track and so we are learning all the time and so there is still room to improve," said Schumacher after finishing behind McLaren's David Coulthard and the two Williams drivers.

"It looks as though we should see a good battle this weekend with myself and Rubens fighting the Michelin runners, especially as McLaren seem more competitive here than in the first two races.

"On Friday it is hard to read anything into the lap times, but I am quite happy with what we have achieved today."

Michael's teammate Rubens Barrichello, still driving the old Ferrari, had a miserable start with a puncture on his first lap and only three runs completed in the morning after a spin. But the Brazilian, who seems almost jinxed at his home circuit where he has failed to finish his last seven races, improved in the afternoon to seventh fastest.

"This afternoon, we tried to make up for all the time lost in the morning, when I only managed to do a handful of laps," said Barrichello. "Right from the installation lap, I had a puncture on the right rear tyre and then I spun because of a problem with the traction control.

"We still have a lot to do in terms of finding the right set up to deal with the bumpy nature of the track and to finalise our tyre choice for qualifying and the race."

Published at 18:54:40 GMT