Friday: Ferrari is feeling better and better

Ferrari was the only ‘big’ team to hold up in Australia in Melbourne performance-wise. Renault, BMW, and even McLaren were outpaced by Brawn GP, Williams, and even Toyota. Reliability had been an issue for the Scuderia, but for the second round of the season, the team in red comes back even stronger.

Räikkönen and Massa set the fastest times in the second free practice and admit to having significantly improved their performance. As for reliability, they will have to wait for the podium.

Kimi Räikkönen – 6th and 1st:

« This morning, we had an issue with the KERS which cost us some time, but we managed to do more laps to make up for it in the afternoon. We think the hierarchy is different from Melbourne, but it’s still too early to be sure. »

On the other hand, what we are certain of is that when the car has no problem, we are competitive and hope to be good in qualifying tomorrow.

Felipe Massa – 5th and 2nd:

The situation seems different compared to what was seen in Australia, at least in terms of tire performance. There is more grip and the soft tires are more effective and consistent over a long distance. At the beginning of the day, I had too much understeer in the tight corners and oversteer in the fast corners, but I improved the balance and the car feels good to me now. I know that we will improve further, we are very motivated, but so are the other teams.

Luca Baldisserri – Technical Director:

« This morning, we experienced a short circuit in the KERS – Kinetic Energy Recovery System – on Räikkönen’s single-seater. It cost us quite a bit of time, but we still managed to complete our program by being productive during FP2. The main goal was to understand the tires; for that, we carried out both long and short stints. »

« Regarding performance, the hierarchy is different from what was seen in Melbourne. But we will need to pay attention to reliability… »