Austrian GP: Ferrari Friday notes

Rubens fastest in free practice

Jean Todt:

"At the risk of repeating myself, I have to say this was a standard Friday. We are pleased with the way the two hours of practice went, during which time we worked mainly towards Sunday's race. We know that brakes are very important at this track. The cars went well and I am very satisfied with the work Bridgestone has done. For tomorrow, I think we have everything in place to get both our cars on the two front rows."

Rubens Barrichello:

"In general, it has been a good day. Right at the end of the morning session, I went off the track after I locked the front wheels under braking. This afternoon, we concentrated mainly on the tyres and, as usual here, the grip on the track will improve still further tomorrow."

Michael Schumacher:

"Things have gone smoothly today. We had a few little excursions into the gravel, but on this circuit that is quite normal. We are moving forward in the right way but the competition is close, with four cars within one tenth of a second. I am happy with the performance of my tyres and I expected Rubens to be very quick here. As usual on the first day at this circuit, the track surface was very slippery. I expect qualifying will see a very close battle tomorrow."

Ross Brawn:

"At the start of the day, the Bridgestones seemed to have a big advantage, but the performance gap to the others closed up and the situation was more what we had expected. Towards the end of the afternoon, there was a lot of dirt on the track, which made it hard to do useful work. The tyres were quite well balanced and we have already made our tyre choice for qualifying and the race as it is quite clear which type we want to use."

Rubens Barrichello 1st 1'10"549 39 laps chassis no. 220
Michael Schumacher 2nd 1'10"579 44 laps chassis no. 219
Temperatures: air 21/23C, track 29/32C

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