Schumacher takes blame for crash

SUZUKA, Japan, Oct 5, 2012 (AFP) - Formula One great Michael Schumacher took the blame Friday for a high-speed accident during practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, just a day after announcing his retirement.

The 43-year-old German, a seven-time world champion, said he misjudged the entrance to the Spoon curve before sliding across the run-off area and ploughing into the barrier, losing his front wing.

It was a tough break for the seven-time world champion, who will also have to contend with a 10-place grid penalty imposed after a crash at the last race in Singapore.

"Basically, I went a bit wide on the entry to turn 13 and I guess I touched the grass and lost control for that reason," he said.

"At that moment you are already focusing on the entry for the corner so you sort of lose the vision to the outside, especially with our low seat position you don't always have perfect vision. I made a mistake there and lost control."

Schumacher said the second session had already got off to a bad start as his mechanics had been tinkering with his car, which was not quite ready.

"We were rather compromised because we changed quite a few bits on the car over the break and it was not ready for the start -- the same on Nico (Rosberg)'s side.

"So it was not as much as we would have liked to do, but let's see what we can learn from what we did."

But Schumacher, who was showered with tributes after announcing his return to retirement on Thursday, hoped for better luck over the weekend.

"The main response I want to show is on track with a good result, but we didn't have a good Friday with the little mistake on the entry of turn 13 and mainly we didn't get the hang of the track with the car. I hope that's better
tomorrow," he said.