25/04/2008
NEWS STORY
"Today's two sessions were slightly different to usual for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, given that last week it took part in a four day long test session at this track. This meant today's program revolved around confirming the ideas on set-up developed from the test and on a comparison of the two types of tyre Bridgestone has brought here, in terms of their performance over a single lap and on a long run. "All in all, we can be satisfied with the way these three hours of free practice have gone," commented Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Stefano Domenicali. "We got through our planned work load without any technical problems. We can be cautiously confident about the rest of the weekend, well aware that we are up against some stiff opposition."
Kimi Raikkonen: "I am pleased with this first day of testing. We did the work we needed to do and had no problems, this being probably the most positive thing. The balance of the car is good, even if there is always room to improve and its handling was also good on both types of tyre. As usual on Friday, it is hard to judge where we are up against our rivals and I think we can expect a very close fight. The new nose? We wouldn't use it if it didn't give us a little something extra!"
Felipe Massa: "This was a good day. From what we have seen, I think we will be competitive this weekend and we are working in the right direction. Track conditions will improve over the next couple of days. Today, it was a bit on the limit and it was easy to make mistakes. In fact, when I spun this morning, I flat spotted the left rear tyre and that's why I didn't do many laps in the first session, as it wasn't worth using a new set of tyres. I could have posted a quicker time in the afternoon, but I had some traffic on my first flying lap on soft tyres. It's my birthday today and I would love to give myself a nice present on Sunday."
Luca Baldisserri: "We had a good starting point thanks to the work carried out here last week, so we worked mainly on confirming the results from that test. We had no technical problems, which meant we got through all our programme. It is always difficult to make predictions based on what you can see on a Friday, but I think we can be reasonably optimistic about the rest of the weekend."