German GP Ferrari Friday notes

Jean Todt
“Friday’s practice sessions are more or less always the same, in terms of working on car set-up primarily for the race and doing tyre comparisons in order to make the right choice of compound for Saturday afternoon and Sunday. We have gathered a lot of data about the handling of our cars, but we still have work to do on the settings. Both drivers used all three sets of tyres available to them. I expect that tomorrow there will be a three way team fight for the top places on the grid. Rubens had to sit out the final ten minutes today because of a hydraulic problem.”

Rubens Barrichello
“I was not able to get that much running today, especially in the afternoon. In the morning, things went very well and the car was definitely in good shape. Then I had a hydraulic problem in the second hour which cost me the last ten minutes of the session. We still have a bit of work to do on defining the ideal set-up, but I am confident for tomorrow.”

Michael Schumacher
“The track is pretty much the same as usual. You have to find the right compromise between the high speed sections and the motodrom. I would say that as far as our lap times are concerned we have to see where McLaren are and we seem to be matching them, so everything is in order. I do not have a problem in any particular part of the track. The gap between the two types of tyre is not so big. There is the usual couple of tenths. I don’t think today’s order means very much, although the cars at the front are doing good times, so maybe they will be a bit higher up the grid than usual after qualifying. As usual the crowd here is a motivating factor.”

Ross Brawn
It was the usual sort of Friday. We had a small problem with the hydraulics on Rubens’ car, but it’s not a worry for the race as the part that failed was not brand new and of course we will fit a new component for the race. We tried both types of tyre and there is a pretty clear distinction between the two. So I think our position tyre wise for tomorrow afternoon and Sunday is fairly clear. Obviously, with more grip from the tyres, which you need in the Stadium section, you can afford to run less wing and that gives you more speed on the straights. We will have to take the extremely hot conditions into consideration.”

-Ferrari