• Japanese Grand Prix

Schumacher feeling great at Suzuka

Michael schumacher finished eighth fastest on Friday © Getty Images

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• Drivers:
• Nico Rosberg
• |
• Michael Schumacher

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• Mercedes

Michael Schumacher confessed it was a 'great feeling' to be driving at Suzuka again after the seven-time world champion set the eighth quickest time of Friday's free practice.

Schumacher, who has won six grands prix at Suzuka, said he was thankful for a problem free session as he finished three places above team-mate Nico Rosberg.

"It's a great feeling to be driving this track again," said Schumacher. "It's really fun and a great challenge. I have always loved Suzuka and particularly the first sector which is cool and demanding at the same time. If you get it right, you enjoy it big time.

"I'm pleased with our practice today as the car looks better than I had expected here and I didn't face any real issues. So now we hope for a clean qualifying tomorrow where we will try to achieve as much as we can."

Team-mate Rosberg endured a more testing session, a gearbox problem costing the younger German track time.

"It's been quite a challenging Friday for me. Unfortunately my morning was hampered by a gearbox issue which cost me some running time at the end of the session which wasn't ideal," said Rosberg. "From then on, I just haven't been as happy with the car here. I had a lot of understeer which we haven't established the reason for, so we need to look into that overnight. Things started to come together more on the option tyre which gives me hope that we can build on that progress tomorrow. It should be an interesting weekend with the rain so we will try to make the best of that."

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