Ferrari setback as Massa loses grid places (Roundup)

Sep 29, 2006, 15:45 GMT

German Formula One driver Michael Schumacher of Scuderia Ferrari team sits in his racing car during the second practice sesion at the F1 racetrack near Shanghai, China, Friday 29 September 2006. The Grand Prix of China takes place on Sunday 01 October 2006. EPA/Diego Azubel

Shanghai - Brazilian Felipe Massa will lose 10 places on the Chinese Grand Prix starting grid in a damper for Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher's hopes of winning an eighth world title.

Massa will slip down the grid after an engine change in Friday's practice and will be less well placed to help Schumacher in his fight with title-holder Fernando Alonso for the world championship.

It also dealt a blow to Ferrari's constructors' title hopes.

'This is a bad start for our Shanghai weekend,' Ferrari team chief Jean Todt conceded.

Schumacher, who has yet to win a point in his two previous appearances in Shanghai, goes into Sunday's race just two points behind Renault driver Alonso.

In the constructors' championship, Ferrari are three points clear of Renault with three races remaining.

Massa had sat out the day's opening practice session and then suffered the engine problem after four laps in the afternoon.

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn said: 'We now have to look at the data and the aggregate to understand what has happened.'

Schumacher was slightly faster than Alonso in the second free practice session after the Spaniard had sat out the first session.

The 37-year-old German was fifth in the second session, 1/10th of a second ahead of Alonso with a time of 1 minute 36.641 seconds for the 5.451-kilometre circuit.

However, changeable weather conditions, with a drizzle at times making the track slippery, made it difficult to interpret performances.

'The weather rather limited the fun,' said Schumacher. 'If you look at the times it looks fairly even.'

Alonso said: 'We have to be careful in analyzing the times. The conditions were a bit different to what we can expect during the race.'

Weather forecasts for Saturday's training put the probability of rain at 44 per cent, and for Sunday's race at 17 per cent.

Fastest on the day was Williams test driver Alexander Wurz of Austria, who was quickest in both test sessions, clocking 1:35.539 in the afternoon, just 0.040 seconds ahead of the BMW-Sauber test driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany.