After a short break of two days the test sessions for the Scuderia Ferrari, along with the Toyota and BMW outfits, continued at Sakhir yesterday. The three drivers out on the track on Monday were the ones from last Friday: Kimi Raikkonen, Jarno Trulli and Christian Klien.

The weather yesterday was fine although the sky was still dull, with air temperatures between 20 and 28°C and track temperatures between 20 and 35°C. Raikkonen was back behind the wheel of the Ferrari F60 to continue with the development of the new car which has been built to the new rules changes that come into force this year. He worked mainly on assessing different set-up configurations, on a comparison of the different types of Bridgestone tyre available, including over long runs and on overall reliability.

And with a series of starts from the grid area, an intense test day for Scuderia Ferrari came to an end. After the weather conditions improved over the weekend in the Persian Gulf the three F1 teams present at the Sakhir track were therefore able to test throughout the whole day: Raikkonen, Klien and Trulli drove 2,100 kilometres between them. The German team's test driver was the fastest on the track with a best lap time of the days in 1.32.544 (131 laps), followed by Raikkonen (1.32.804, 116 laps) and Trulli (1.33.064, 141 laps).

The Finn had to work an extensive programme to carry out yesterday and he was kept busy working on the different set ups for the new single-seater, including the development of several mechanical and aerodynamic components and comparing the different Bridgestone tyres when driving long stints. "It was a very intense day," Kimi said at the end of the sessions, before he went to the engineers for a briefing. "We tried to make up the time we lost last week, although in the morning we had some minor problems which slowed us down a bit. I'm satisfied with how things went.

"The car reacts very well to our set ups and confirms to deliver a constant performance on the long run," continued Raikkonen. "Let's hope the weather remains like this so we can drive many more kilometres until the end of this session," the 2007 F1 World Champion concluded. Today (Tuesday, February 17) the Scuderia will proceed its tests again with Raikkonen behind the wheel.