"As for today, here at Suzuka, it is clearly even harder than usual to assess the true level of everyone's strengths, given the different work programmes carried out over the two hours."

"We went through the usual routine of trying the two types of tyre Bridgestone has brought here. For the first time here and it will also be the case in China, the F2005 cars have worn the logo of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, an event which is particularly close to our hearts."

Michael Schumacher:
"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:
"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:
"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."