As usual in Malaysia, high temperatures - up to 43° C ambient and 49 on the track - are the key theme for this second round of the world championship. But the teams knew what to expect as ten of them, including Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro had already tested here last week, the first time a Formula 1 session has ever been held at the Sepang circuit.

In the past, a test session a week before a race would mean very few laps on Friday, as teams were mindful of conserving the life of their engines and their tyres. However, with new rules making Friday virtually a free test day - the Melbourne race engines will be refitted into the two F2007 overnight - both Ferrari drivers were able to do enough laps to complete a full Friday programme.

In fact, after there had been some concerns about the state of the Australian race engine in Raikkonen's car, the Finn was delighted that he would be able to use it again as from tomorrow morning, thus avoiding any possible grid penalty for an engine change. Kimi was slightly less happy with the handling of his car and ended the first three hours of free practice in fourth place. On the other side of the Scuderia's pit garage, Felipe Massa reckoned he had a good day, which would be the case as the Brazilian was fastest both in the morning and the afternoon.

While the pecking order between the top teams since winter testing has suggested a very slight advantage for the Scuderia over McLaren-Mercedes, this afternoon, it was the reigning world champion team that lined up behind Massa, with the Renaults of Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen second and third respectively. Behind Kimi in fifth and sixth places were the Williams-Toyotas of Nico Rosberg and Alexander Wurz.

Felipe Massa: "All things considered, we can say this has been a good day. We tried both types of tyre available to us and also tried various set-up changes on the F2007, starting off from the basis of what we learnt in the test last week at this track. Obviously, there is still a lot to do with qualifying and the race in mind, but the weekend has got off to a positive start. I hope we can continue in that way!"
 

Kimi Raikkonen: "It's been a reasonably good day, even though I am not completely happy with the set-up of my car. We still have to find the right settings, similar to those we had last week at the test. Having said that, I still believe we can fight for first place both in qualifying and the race, although at the moment it is hard to have a clear picture of the whole situation. The difference between the two types of tyre? Not much, especially when it comes to consistency in lap times."

Luca Baldisserri: "We already ran at this track last week, so today's programme centred mainly on checking the data we had gathered over those four days of testing. We were able to get through the planned programme without any particular technical problems arising with the F2007. The performance of both types of tyre is pretty similar over a long run and the way we use them in the race will be based on our strategy choices. From what we could see today, I think we will be competitive even if it is difficult to work out the pecking order given that, on this track, the fuel load has more of an effect on lap times than at other tracks. Tomorrow starting with free practice and as a result of carrying out several tests, we will be using the same engines that finished the Australian Grand Prix on both our cars."

Free practice - First session: F. Massa 1st 1.34.972 17 laps, chassis 260; K. Raikkonen 4th 1.35.779 20 laps, chassis 261; Weather: air temperature 29/32°C, track temperature 37/43°C, sunny. Free Practice - Second session: F. Massa 1st 1.35.780 34 laps, chassis 260; K. Raikkonen4th 1.36.160 33 laps, chassis 261; Weather: air temperature 34/35°C, track temperature 48/49°C, partially cloudy then sunny.