Italian GP: Bridgestone Friday practice notes

Productive day for Bridgestone runners at Monza

Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were hot on the pace today on the first day of the Italian Grand Prix weekend in Monza. In warm, sunny conditions the Bridgestone equipped Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro pair posted first and second fastest times in the morning's one-hour long session before Barrichello was narrowly pipped by just 0.053s by Kimi Raikkonen in the second session. Schumacher was just behind in third although his morning time was the fastest time of the day.

Sauber Petronas' Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella ran consistently in the pack with most teams continuing their efforts from last week's test at Monza. Jordan Ford and Minardi Cosworth, meanwhile, made full use of their third drivers, who are only permitted to run on Fridays, and both Timo Glock and Bas Leinders had a productive day working through their respective assessment programmes.

Hisao Suganuma, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager:

"All the Bridgestone teams tried their respective two tyre specifications with each type showing competitive performance traits. There are naturally some pros and cons with each of the specs so we must now carefully analyse the data to enable us to advise the teams about the best tyre for the remainder of the weekend."

"This morning the track was quite green making it difficult to make proper use of the results and we did see some graining on the fronts and high wear on the rear but the track improved continuously as the sessions progressed and we are now satisfied with both the performance and wear of the specifications we have brought here this weekend. We just need to take into account the improving track over the weekend when making the final tyre choices with the Bridgestone teams."

Ross Brawn, Technical Director of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro:

"Very straight forward sessions today with no problems. We did two good, long runs on both specifications of tyre enabling us to make our tyre choice this evening. We shall make a decision in conjunction of course with our preferred strategy. The cars are handling well and generally we picked up where we left off in the test here last week. We're quite happy and looking forward to the rest of the weekend."

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