The three days of Scuderia Ferrari testing were concluded yesterday at Vallelunga. On the track for the tests were Luca Badoer and Felipe Massa. Yesterday's programme was focused on developing the Bridgestone tyres and comparing the performance of the two cars on the circuit: the F2004 and the F2005.

"We are pleased with the data we have gathered", declared Massa at the end of the day. "We were able to see something interesting that will be useful in Bridgestone's next stage of development. Further, I was able to run many kilometres with the new V8, confirming the positive impression I had last week. We, with the support of Shell, are making good progress in terms of reliability". Felipe drove a true eight cylinder engine while Luca used a V10 in order to reproduce the conditions that will be in force at the beginning of next season. A total of 140 laps were covered: 77 by Felipe (best time 1.14.785) and 63 by Luca (with a best time of 1.14.169).
 

The next date on the track is scheduled for 19 November at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain. Ferrari will benefit from the possibility offered by FOM to all the teams to test for four days on the track that will host the opening world championship race on 12 March. The drivers who will be in Bahrain will be Luca Badoer and Marc Gené. The latter, fresh from marrying his fiance, Eva, on Saturday 29th October, was recently unveiled as the Scuderia's official test driver for 2006 alongside Badoer. Next year will be Badoer's ninth season as a Ferrari test driver.

Meanwhile Michael Schumacher was talking to the press. "It is no surprise that I was pleased at Max Mosley's re-election as FIA president," commented the German yesterday. "Max has always looked after the safety of the drivers and tried to improve safety levels in our sport. He is always willing to talk and listen to our needs and he works to guarantee that everything goes smoothly and that calmness reigns in Formula 1. Talking of calmness, I have the feeling that my recent declarations have been misinterpreted. I have already emphasised that I don't think that constant rule changes are a good thing and so changing the rules every year would not be advantageous to the sport. However, this does not mean that I am not in favour of the new regulations. In fact, I believe they are positive moves. For instance, allowing tyre changes again is a significant step forward, above all for safety reasons. It was also an astute move to introduce the V8 2400cc engine. As to the new qualifying system, I think that we have to wait and see whether they will lead to the desired improvements".