Hungaroring, 24 July 2009

First Session: K. Raikkonen: 7° 1.22.796 23 laps 279 Chassis. F. Massa: 8° 1.22.855 25 laps 277 Chassis

Second Session. K. Raikkonen: 11° 1.22.763, 38 laps 279 Chassis. F. Massa: 18° 1.23.156, 32 laps 277 Chassis

Weather. First session: air 26/29 °C, track 30/37 °C; sunny. Second session: air 30 °C, track 42/41 °C; sunny.

The first day of testing for the Hungarian Grand Prix is traditionally very difficult to interpret or to offer pointers because of the track conditions, which usually change significantly over the course of the weekend. This Friday was no exception to that rule, with 19 drivers all within eleven tenths and the two Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers ending the day on track with contrasting impressions. “It was a slightly different Friday to usual,” said Stefano Domenicali. “This was because we also began to work with a view to next season, especially so in the morning. The classification is very tight and clearly, while evaluating it, we have to take into account the usual unknowns linked to fuel loads and tyre use. We still have work to do to be as well prepared as possible for tomorrow’s qualifying which is bound to be very tight. It won’t take much to be either on the front row or down the back.”

Kimi Raikkonen: “Today, the car wasn’t that bad. There are still some small things that we can work on to make it quicker, but overall, I am reasonably happy. This year, the supersoft tyre has always been very difficult to manage, but here it seems the situation is rather more straightforward. We’ll see what we can manage tomorrow, but this is definitely a better Friday than those in the recent past. Seeing how close the times are, we will have to try and do the maximum to get a good grid position. It seems to me that the performance level of the various cars at this track is much closer one to the other.”

Chris Dyer: “A very busy Friday for the team, both because we worked in a slightly different way to usual and because we had to solve a few problems on the rear suspension, linked to some off track excursions. Furthermore, we did the usual job of comparing the two types of tyre brought here by Bridgestone and it’s clear we are struggling a bit, as indeed we usually do, in terms of doing a time on the first flying lap, especially on the harder tyre. From what we could see in today’s three hours of practice, everyone is very evenly matched and we will have to do our utmost to get a good qualifying result, which here more than at some other tracks, is very important in terms of the outcome of the race.”

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