Brake problems for Rubens Barrichello and running on new tyres when the track was not at its best for Michael Schumacher are two factors that go some way to explaining why the two Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers ended the day down in 10th and 16th places respectively.

However, even allowing for the unknown of the varying fuel loads being evaluated by the teams, this result shows that the Scuderia engineers still have a lot of work to do before tomorrow’s final practice and qualifying. McLaren-Mercedes’ Pedro de la Rosa was quickest in both one hour sessions today, followed by another Friday-only driver, Ricardo Zonta in the Toyota. Championship leader Fernando Alonso took his Renault to third place, followed by the two McLaren-Mercedes of Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen.

Although the team engineers know the challenges of the “Gilles Villeneuve” circuit: tough on brakes, with good power, an efficient low downforce aero package and a torque-rich engine all required, there was one unknown element today. Since last year’s race, the entire length of the track has been resurfaced and reigning world champion Michael Schumacher declared the new asphalt to be a significant improvement over the old one, in terms of ironing out most of the bumps.

Apart from Michael and Rubens there were 27 other Ferrari drivers on track today, here in Montreal, competing in the Ferrari Challenge, the one-make series which uses the 360 Modena Challenge car. This is the tenth year that the prestigious series has held a race over the Canadian Grand Prix weekend. Last year’s event was a real thriller, as it ended in almost a dead heat between local man Emmanuel Anassis and Doug Peterson. Anassis was declared the winner and it looks as though their rivalry will continue this weekend as Peterson was quickest in today’s practice ahead of Anassis.

Jean Todt : “As usual, today’s work centred on fine tuning the set-up of the cars and evaluating the two types of tyre available to us. Although, we have to take into account the unknown factor of what fuel load everyone is running, it is clear we were expecting better. Now we have to study today’s data carefully.”
 

Rubens Barrichello : “In terms of getting our work done, we did a good job, but we still have to sort out and understand a problem I have with the brakes. Apart from that, it seems we do not have a very competitive car here, but we are working flat-out to sort it out and there are plenty of reasons to be confident that tomorrow we can do much better.”

Michael Schumacher : “We are not looking too competitive here, looking at the lap times. I did not get the best out of my new set of tyres this afternoon, as I went out early on when the track was not yet at its best. But if you look at Rubens’ time, which he set on the same tyres much later in the session, it looks a bit better. On a positive note, we got through all our programme. I would say the new surface is a clear improvement on the old one in terms of bumps.”

Ross Brawn : “We had a relatively trouble-free practice today, although Rubens was not entirely happy with the brakes on his car. That obviously causes problems, especially on a circuit like this, so we will have to fix that for tomorrow. We did some long distance runs and picked up all the data we need regarding tyres. Now, we have to look at wear rates and tyre consistency and make our choice, from the two types available. One of the tyres was graining a bit, so we have to calculate if that is a situation that will go away by Sunday. Generally, the balance of the cars was good.”

Free practice - First session: Michael Schumacher: 5th 1.16.872 12 laps chassis 245; Rubens Barrichello: 10th 1.17.541 11 laps chassis 246; Temperatures: air 28 °C, track 37/36 °C

Free practice – Second session: Rubens Barrichello: 10th 1.16.459 23 laps chassis 246; Michael Schumacher: 16th 1.17.200 26 laps chassis 245; Temperatures: air 30/31 °C, track 41/42 °C