Ferrari to be competitive in qualifying
It wasn't an easy day for the Scuderia Ferrari drivers today during the free practice sessions, but of course it is too early to draw conclusions. Felipe Massa was unhappy with his own performance as he didn't manage to exploint all the car's potential due to traffic, but is confident that the team will be competitive during the qualifying session and in the race.
Kimi Raikkonen: "I am reasonably happy with how things went in free practice today. We have found a good balance on the car right from the morning session and we have completed all the programme we had planned for the day. As usual, it is too early to draw conclusions as to how the rest of the weekend will go, because we don't know what our closest rivals have done and also because the track conditions change a lot from Thursday to Saturday. All in all, a good start to the weekend."
Felipe Massa: "I didn't manage to exploit all the car's potential, partly because I always had traffic when I was running in the second session with new tyres. Unfortunately, on this special track, traffic can cost you an awful lot of time. Over a long run, the situation seems good, but we still have work to do on finding the right balance of the car and that includes also on the first lap on new tyres. All the same, I am confident."
Luca Baldisserri: "As always, it is difficult to judge the result of free practice, because there are too many unknown factors in our main rivals' work programme, as outright performance can be compromised by traffic on the track. As for ourselves, we can say we achieved everything we had put on the day's job list, without any particular problems. We worked on finding the best set-up on the car for Sunday's race and on the comparison between the two types of tyre on offer from Bridgestone. From what we have seen today, the choice seems less evident than usual. In the light of these three hours of practice, we think we will be competitive both in qualifying and in the race."
Free practice - First session
K. Raikkonen 5th 1.17.918 28 262
F. Massa 8th 1.18.189 29 260
Weather: air temperature 26/29 °C, track temperature 33/40 °C, sunny.
Free Practice - Second session
K. Raikkonen 2nd 1.16.215 43 262
F. Massa 6th 1.16.784 37 260
Weather: air temperature 28 °C, track temperature 42/45 °C, sunny.
