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The Scuderia
Ferrari Marlboro duo got the French Grand Prix weekend off
to a good start today, with Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Felipe
Massa in the morning session and the order reversed at the
end of the second ninety minutes of practice in the
afternoon. There were some unusual names in the top half
dozen come the end of the day. A surprising third was Scott
Speed for the Ferrari-powered Scuderia Toro Rosso team,
while his team-mate, Tonio Liuzzi was fifth, although both
men admitted they set their best times on low fuel loads. In
between them was the McLaren-Mercedes of championship
leader, Lewis Hamilton, while the Red Bull Racing-Renault of
David Coulthard, a past winner of this event, was sixth.
After missing the US Grand Prix on doctor's advice, after
his very big accident in Canada, Robert Kubica is back
behind the wheel of the Sauber BMW and finished today in
twelfth position.
Both Ferrari men
completed twenty two laps in the morning, while in the
afternoon, Felipe did thirty eight, ten more than his
Finnish team-mate. Temperatures are higher than yesterday
when everyone was complaining of the cold, but it is still
much cooler than expected at what has in the past been one
of the hottest races of the year. With track temperature
having a significant effect on performance at this track, it
will be interesting to watch how the situation evolves
during qualifying tomorrow afternoon and which teams adapt
best.
Kimi
Raikkonen: "I would say that this was quite a positive
day. We worked well and I think we can be competitive this
weekend. The car went well right from the morning, but there
is still room for improvement. However, as usual on a
Friday, it is hard to say what the real pecking order is in
the field. The performance of the two types of tyre we have
here is pretty similar, even if I never managed to get a
clean run with the softer on and so it's hard for me to say
which is quicker."
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