Schumi hopes for best

“I don’t feel like promising big things to my fans,” he told reporters. “I’m not thinking about victory at all but I’ll do my best to get on the podium at least. I must admit I feel fairly pessimistic.”

Schumacher, 36, joined his team at Mugello in Italy Wednesday, just one day before heading here to Hockenheim, in a bid to continue their development and find a solution to their problems.

They have been slowed by new regulations, which require tyres to last an entire race distance and engines to last for two races, because their rivals McLaren and Renault were quicker to react to the changes. Schumacher has won just once this season, in the United States race where seven teams pulled out due to safety concerns, and he is now 34 points behind world championship leader Fernando Alonso, of Renault.

Narain finishes 19th in second practice

Hockenheim: Leaving behind his technical snags, Narain Karthikeyan scorched the 4.5740-km Hockenheimring touching speeds upto 323 kmph to finish 19th in the second practice today.

The Indian rookie driver, racing for Jordan Grand Prix, stopped the clock in 1 minute, 17.506 seconds and left behind his teammates Tiago Monteiro of Portugal and Nicolas Keisa who brought up the rear finishing 22nd and 23rd. His placing based on the top speeds attained was far more impressive at 11th place after touching 323.6 kmph. The Indian left behind the likes of Michael Schumacher who was 15th in the list after touching 321.3 kmph.