More laps for Massa

They say that every cloud has a silver lining and in the case of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, the cloud comes from the fact that Felipe Massa had to have a new engine for this race and therefore drops ten places on the grid. The silver lining is that a fresher engine meant the Brazilian was able to do more laps today than Michael Schumacher - 40 to 21 and thus was able to carry out a useful evaluation of the Bridgestone tyres.

As usual in Malaysia the heat, but especially the humidity, is the main point of conversation and makes life very tiring, not only for the drivers but also for the mechanics who probably work harder on a Friday than at any other time of a grand prix weekend. The Scuderia crew was rewarded for its efforts with a strong performance from both its drivers, as Felipe and Michael ended the day in fourth and seventh places respectively.

Two Friday-only drivers, Anthony Davidson for Honda and Alexander Wurz for Williams, topped this afternoon's time sheet, ahead of the Renault of world champion Fernando Alonso in third spot. In between Massa and Schumacher, fifth place goes to the McLaren-Mercedes of Kimi Raikkonen and sixth, the second Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella. In general, the two Ferrari men were happy with their performance and consistency, which backs up Schumacher's contention that the team's Bahrain performance last weekend was not just down to the fact the team tested extensively at that track in February.

Tomorrow's qualifying will present an interesting challenge for the team's strategy experts, as Massa's qualifying fuel load has to take into account the fact he will drop ten places down the grid because of his engine-change penalty.