Bahrain Grand Prix – Sakhir, 4th April 2008
Free practice – First session
Driver Pos. Time Laps Chassis
F. Massa 1st 1.32.233 20 267
K. Raikkonen 2nd 1.32.350 15 268
Weather: air temperature 28/30 °C, track temperature
35/39 °C, hazy skies.
Free Practice – Second session
Driver Pos. Time Laps Chassis
F. Massa 1st 1.31.420 30 267
K. Raikkonen 2nd 1.32.327 30 268
Weather: air 32/31 °C, track temperature 44/39 °C,
hazy skies.
The two Ferraris topped the time sheets in both free practice
sessions held today at the Sakhir circuit. Felipe Massa was
quickest in the morning and afternoon, with his team-mate,
world champion Kimi Raikkonen behind him each time. As usual
on a Friday, the programme centred on finding the best set-up
and on comparing the two types of Bridgestone tyre on offer
in Bahrain. “It was a good day, but it’s too early
to draw any conclusions regarding the final outcome of this
weekend,” commented Stefano Domenicali. “We worked
well, without any particular niggles and now we must concentrate
on preparation for qualifying and the race.”
Felipe Massa: “I am pleased with this first day of
free practice. Right from the start this morning, I found
some good settings for the car and then, in the afternoon,
the track conditions improved considerably. I think we are
working in the right direction in terms of setting up the
car and so I feel confident about the rest of the weekend.
I like this track and think we will be very competitive. The
wind is expected to be stronger tomorrow and on Sunday and
that would make driving more difficult, but on the plus side,
there will be more grip.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “All in all, I am happy with the way
things went this morning and even more so with the afternoon.
We tried various different set-ups, starting off with the
settings we defined when testing here in February. We picked
up a lot of data to work with for qualifying and the race.
The car is going well and I think we will be competitive even
if it is always difficult to say where we are compared to
the others. The performance of both types of tyre is reasonably
similar.”
Luca Baldisserri: “Track conditions this morning were
rather difficult, because of all the sand blown onto the track
by the strong winds that we had here over the past few days.
In the afternoon, as the cars did more and more laps, the
situation improved. We got through all our programme, working
on finding the best set-up and on the comparison of the two
types of tyre available to us. I reckon we can be satisfied
with what we achieved in both these areas. Being able to refer
to our February tests was definitely useful, but we have to
bear in mind that the weather is different.”
|
