San Marino GP Ferrari Friday notes

San Marino GP - Ferrari leads the pack in free practice
Imola, 13th April

Michael Schumacher: 1st, 1m 25.096, 44 laps, chassis no. 208

Rubens Barrichello: 2nd, 1m 25.372, 38 laps, chassis no. 206

Temperatures: air 13/19 C, track 15/25 C

Jean Todt:
"We are happy to be back on home turf, in front of our fans. The day's programme centred on set-up work and tyre testing. It was a more interesting day than usual because the wet and then drying conditions in the morning and the dry track in the afternoon meant we could try the car in different configurations. That meant we acquired a lot of useful data. As for qualifying, my prediction is not much different to the past weekends: we will see a very close fight for pole position, involving drivers from different teams."

Michael Schumacher:
"Today we encountered all the conditions we wanted to have and that allowed us to get the right set-up and find out how the car was handling in all conditions. In both the wet and dry we have shown we are competitive again. I think what happened in Brazil was just an exception. At least that's what I hope! I think if we have similar conditions over the weekend, we can confirm that. It is encouraging that we have been quickest throughout the day. Our brakes are working well here, on a track where they normally take a lot of punishment."

Rubens Barrichello:
"I'd say today has been pretty good as we were able to run in the wet and the dry. I worked on a different programme to Michael's. That means now in the briefing, we will be able to put together the two sets of data to do the best possible job of preparing the cars for tomorrow and Sunday. Last year here, right off from the Friday, I was unhappy with the way the car was handing, but today has been a completely different story."

Ross Brawn:
"It has been a productive day's practice and we did good work with the wet tyres. We are very pleased with the way the cars behaved this morning in the wet. The afternoon also went well in the dry and I think we have a pretty good idea which tyres we want to run. As usual, it is difficult to know what the other teams have been doing in terms of fuel load and tyres, especially as this is a hard braking track. Although the gaps seem quite big today, I am sure that tomorrow's qualifying will be very close."

- Ferrari