The Formula One Paddock has been transported to the Kingdom of Bahrain following an exciting second round of the 2007 Formula One World Championship in Malaysia last weekend. Following a night of heavy electrical storms in Sakhir, the circuit was very ‘green’ today for the first Free Practice session. Anthony endured a gearbox problem during the morning, however both Anthony and Takuma made encouraging progress in the afternoon.

Takuma Sato: "It was a good first day. We have maintained our momentum from last week in terms of long run pace, and also from the test here before the opening race when we tried a lot of SA07 aero configurations. I am happy with the consistency of the car, but we will work on increasing our speed for tomorrow."

Anthony Davidson: "We had a bit of a frustrating morning with a gearbox issue after the first stint. But after that was rectified we had a very good second session and found a good balance, especially on the soft Bridgestone Potenza tyre and got a good first lap balance at the end of the day. I am confident about the grip levels on the longer runs as well. The hard tyre is a different story, but I think that the gap should close between the two types of tyre, like we saw in Malaysia, over the weekend."

Graham Taylor, Sporting Director: "During Free Practice One the circuit was very green with no rubber down whatsoever, so we waited a while before running. We completed some rudimentary checks to put us in the right direction for this afternoon, however we lost a fair amount of time with Anthony as we had a small gearbox problem. The issue was quickly resolved and we had a successful afternoon. Both cars were reliable and we have collected some very good information. Taku put in some useful runs and both drivers seemed very happy with the balance of their cars."

To check out our Bahrain free practice gallery, click here