08/05/2009
NEWS STORY
One hundred and ten laps completed by Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro over the two Friday free practice sessions for the Spanish Grand Prix: 60 for Kimi Raikkonen and 50 for Felipe Massa.
Stefano Domenicali: We had a very busy day: having so many new parts on the F60, the work sheet was full and we managed to complete it in its entirety. It was important to be able to work without major reliability problems on an aero package which is pretty much making its track debut today. We managed it and that's definitely a positive thing when evaluating the day. As for performance, it is always difficult to draw conclusions. We have certainly made progress, but how much when compared to the competition we will only find out as the weekend continues.
Kimi Raikkonen: We have definitely made a step forward in performance terms on the car: you can feel a greater level of aerodynamic downforce and that's what we needed. Sure, it's Friday and it's always difficult to draw conclusions, but the feeling is that we have closed the gap to the top cars. Here, just as at the last race, the harder tyre is a bit difficult, while on the softer one, we're reasonably good. Tomorrow morning, we'll work on qualifying, given that today we concentrated on race preparation. All in all, I am happy with how things went today.
Felipe Massa: We have done a good job over the past weeks and the car has improved, but of course, the others haven't been standing around with their hands in their pockets. As from tomorrow, we will see if we have managed to move up the order, because today's classification is difficult to interpret and I reckon it doesn't represent the true pecking order. We worked towards Sunday's race. On my final run I had traffic and that cost me a bit of time, but what matters is the performance tomorrow. I will do my best to get through to the final part of qualifying and then aim for a good grid position.
Chris Dyer: We are reasonably pleased with how things went this Spanish Grand Prix Friday. The team, both back at home and at the track, has put in a big effort to bring this aero package to Barcelona and the fact we had no reliability problems is already a positive element. The track confirmed our first impressions, that the handling of the car has improved and, from what we can learn from an initial analysis of the situation, we are in better shape than at the previous races. Tomorrow, our aim is to get both cars into Q3 and then to have a good race on Sunday. The tyres are behaving as expected: on the harder ones, we are struggling to get good grip, while we are fine on the softer ones, both in terms of grip and consistency of their performance.