Bahrain GP: Massa leads Ferrari 1-2 in Friday practice

Felipe Massa

Spending time testing here in February seems to have paid off for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, as its two drivers topped today's time sheet, with last year's Bahrain winner, Felipe Massa ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. However, it is possible that the performance of the F2008 on this desert track simply reflects its current level, as the only other team to have taken part in the winter test, Toyota, has both its cars down in 14th and 15th places.

The Ferrari duo were also quickest, in the same order in the morning, when the Brazilian completed 20 laps and the Finn 15. This afternoon, they both did a further 30 laps. Yesterday, as the official Safety Cars went around the circuit, clouds of dust were thrown up by their wheels, but since then, organizers had done a good job of cleaning the track, helped by plenty of action from other race categories, so that the surface was not as dirty as expected, although still leaving quite a bit of dust on what is a "green" track surface, as it sees so little running during the year.

Behind the Prancing Horse duo came the Silver Arrow duo in the shape of the McLaren-Mercedes of Heikki Kovalainen third and Lewis Hamilton fourth. However, the Englishman's day had a setback, as he lost control of his car running wide over a curb, before hitting the barrier and damaging his car. In fifth spot was the Malaysian GP runner-up Robert Kubica in his Sauber-BMW, while the top six was rounded off by Nico Rosberg in the Williams-Toyota.

The Bahrain circuit is proving to be a very pleasant venue this weekend, as the very hot weather that had been expected has not materialized and enjoyable mid-twenties temperatures and a cooling dry breeze are the order of the day so far. However, in this desert environment, the situation can change quickly and the forecast for the next two days suggests that these gentle breezes could become strong winds. This can really complicate the situation, firstly by blowing sand back on the track, secondly by upsetting the aerodynamic balance of the car and thirdly by affecting the choice of gear ratios. However, whatever happens, the conditions are identical for all 22 cars and drivers.

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