It was a small moment of history this morning when Felipe Massa’s replacement, Luca Badoer rolled down pit lane to start his first ever practice lap as a Ferrari race driver. For the Italian driver, in his Italian car, it was a childhood dream come true. By the end of the day, he had completed a total of 62 laps, the same number as his team-mate and ended up eighteenth fastest. The Scuderia Ferrari driver was under no pressure to produce quick lap times, as he settled into the car and got to know a new circuit, a task further complicated by the fact the Valencia track is always dirty and slippery at the start of the weekend.

While Badoer got on with his own programme, Kimi Raikkonen went through the usual Friday tasks of car set-up and tyre evaluation, ending up tenth quickest. For all the drivers, heat and humidity levels approaching those experienced in Malaysia, made life even more difficult. The mechanics also faced tough working conditions as the pit garages are based inside the old fish market, so that even the team trucks are under cover, which drastically limits the amount of air circulating around the working environment.

Much to the delight of the (small) crowd, Fernando Alonso waved the flag for Spain, setting the fastest lap in the Renault, the only man to duck below the 1m 40s barrier, despite a lurid spin and a collision with Heidfeld, which saw the BMW launched in the air in spectacular fashion. The two Brawns of Button and Barrichello were next up, followed by a brace of Williams, Rosberg ahead of Nakajima, with Sutil’s Force India rounding off the top six. Badoer was not the only new name on the entry list, as Romain Grosjean has replaced Nelson Piquet at Renault.

“My first thoughts today are with Felipe and once again, on behalf of the entire team I want to wish him a speedy recovery,” said Stefano Domenicali. “From today, his seat in car number three is occupied by Luca Badoer, who faces a difficult task, but he can count on the support of everyone in the knowledge that Ferrari has every confidence in him. Given his situation – a long time away from racing, an unknown circuit – the first day can be considered a positive experience for Luca. Clearly this weekend is something of a test session for him and that is how it must be judged. At this Grand Prix, it falls to Kimi more than usual to bring home a useful result to defend our third place in the Constructors’ classification which, at this point of the season remains our realistic target.”

Luca Badoer: “I am happy with the way things went today. I expected a difficult day and so it was. It was vital that I did not make any serious mistakes so that I could get through the programme we had established. Now we can begin to work on the car set-up to try and adapt it to my driving style. The team has not set me any specific goal for this weekend and I am pleased about that consideration because it is important I return to having full confidence in the car and with the world of the Grand Prix weekend. I am also grateful to Michael who wanted to be here this weekend. It is important for me to be able to count on his support, especially from the human point of view and of course, also in terms of technical matters.”

Kimi Raikkonen: “It was a positive day. I am happy with the handling of the car and the performance of both types of tyre we have here from Bridgestone. There’s no point in looking at the time sheet, because as usual on a Friday, it doesn’t tell us much. The first session was rather difficult as the track was very dirty and slippery, but in the second one the situation was much better. I think a podium finish is still a realistic target for us, even if a lot will depend on where we qualify.”

Chris Dyer: “A reasonable day, with our two drivers running different programmes. For Luca it was a case of regaining confidence in the car and learning a new track. For him, obviously the more kilometres he completed the more the situation improved and we are confident about the rest of the weekend. Therefore, Kimi worked on his own in terms of race preparation and on evaluating tyre performance. Our performance level seems reasonably good and we feel we can put on a good show in this Grand Prix.”

Friday practice details:

K. Raikkonen: 10th 1.43.384 23 11th 1.40.739 39 laps 279 chassis
L. Badoer: 20th 1.45.840 25 18th 1.42.017 37 laps 280 chassis
Weather: First session: air 28/30 °C, track 29/39 °C; sunny. Second session: air 32/33 °C, track 45/48 °C; sunny.