Felipe Massa was the pace-setter on a day when F1 teams discovered that the weather can wreak testing havoc even in the middle of a desert.

As previously reported a sandstorm hit the Sakhir track shortly after the session got underway this morning, and with no sign of a let-up several hours later the garage doors were pulled down and the teams called it a day.

Massa had completed just 17 laps when the session was red-flagged, the poor visibility meaning that the medical helicopter couldn't take off. Tomorrow, weather permitting, Kimi Raikkonen is on duty.

Ideal conditions at the start of the day allowed BMW to work on the development of its F1.09, however, Robert Kubica had completed 22 laps when the sandstorm begun.

"That was short and sweet," said Toyota's Timo Glock. "After our positive day of running yesterday we had another full programme planned but the weather had other ideas. I could feel the strong wind during the laps that we did manage in the morning. Then the sandstorm put an end to the day's action. That's frustrating because the car is showing good promise so we will hope for better conditions in the coming days."

"It's ironic that we had a sandstorm today after coming to Bahrain to guarantee more running time," added Dieter Gass. "Still, we have six more days here and we remain confident that we will reap the rewards of better conditions during the rest of the test."

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