Bahrain – Day 1 – Ferraris Ahead of Toyotas

Two teams absent from the testing program this weekend in Barcelona, Spain, began their tests today at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain: Ferrari and Toyota.

These two teams have chosen the warmth rather than the European climate to drive with two drivers and two single-seaters until Wednesday. They will then return from Sunday to the following Tuesday for a new session accompanied by several other teams.

At the end of this first day, it was the reigning world champion, Kimi Räikkönen, who was the fastest among the four other drivers present. The Finn outpaced his teammate, Luca Badoer, by more than a second.

The two Toyota TF108s were therefore a notch below despite Timo Glock, in a race configuration, finishing his day just 1/10th of a second behind the second Ferrari.

« I had a really good day, to be honest. » Commented Timo Glock. « This morning, however, the track was very dirty with a lot of sand. But as the day went on, it improved. »

« It was complicated to get good conditions. But in the end, we found some. Tomorrow, with less wind, we will have an even more productive day. I’m sure of it. » Concluded the German.

Finally, Kamui Kobayashi, the test driver for the Japanese team, finished more than a second and a half behind the leader.

Private Testing – Bahrain – Day 1