Technical problem for Massa
Not everything went smoothly for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro during the first day of practice for the Canadian Grand Prix. A technical problem left Felipe's F2008 parked at the side of the track in the final part of the afternoon session, preventing him from completing his test programme.
No problems for Kimi though, who completed all the work on his race engineer's job sheet. "This morning the track stayed damp for a good part of the session, while this afternoon we had a problem with Felipe, the cause of which we have yet to ascertain," commented Team Principal of the Gestione Sportiva, Stefano Domenicali. "However, we gathered a good amount of data to analyse for the rest of the weekend. As usual on a Friday, the results have to be viewed with caution as we don't know what fuel loads other drivers were running. As for ourselves, we worked to prepare for Sunday's race and are reasonably happy with our performance level."
Felipe Massa: "My car seemed to suffer some sort of blackout: gradually all the systems shut down and I had to stop at the side of the track. Of course, that's not good but it's better to have a problem in free practice than in qualifying or, worse still, in the race! Even if we did not get through everything we wanted to do, this problem won't cost us anything. From what we could understand today, it is very close between us and our main rivals. As usual on a Friday in Montreal, the track was very dirty and will therefore improve bit by bit as the surface gets rubbered in. I hope I can have a great qualifying and claim a good position on the grid."
Kimi Raikkonen: "I am quite satisfied with this first day of testing. We were always quick. The car turned out to be well balanced right from the morning and I think we can aim for the top spots over the rest of the weekend. From what we have seen today, there is not much difference in the performance of the two types of Bridgestone tyre we have available to us, but the track conditions are bound to change over the next couple of days. At this track, it is very important to have the brakes sorted in the race and we also worked on this."
Luca Baldisserri: "A shame about the technical problem on Felipe's car, the cause of which we still need to understand. It prevented him from completing all the work we had scheduled for these three hours of free practice. But in any case, we have enough information to be as well prepared as possible for qualifying and the race. It's too early to say where we are in the pecking order, but we will definitely be competitive."
