US GP: Ferrari Friday practice notes

US GP - First day of practice

Jean Todt:

"We are very happy to be back here in Indianapolis, a temple of motor sport on a world scale, which last year staged a race that, for reasons we are well aware of, was rather strange. It was good to see the warm welcome with which the American public greeted Ferrari. This country is the number one market for our company, with a legend built up around it even without the backing of Formula 1, which is so important in other countries."

"As for the technical side, we went through our usual Friday routine, concentrating mainly on finding the best set up for the cars and checking the consistency of performance of our tyres. Friday is always too soon to make predictions, but from what we have seen, here more than elsewhere tyre performance will be crucial, both in terms of first lap performance and in their consistency over the longer distance. It is up to our engineers and our friends at Bridgestone to do a good job of analysing the data we acquired today."

Michael Schumacher:

"I am happy with what we have seen on track today. The situation looks pretty good, which means we can tackle the rest of the weekend with confidence. Let's say I had more problems trying to watch the quarter finals on television than I did in the cockpit of my Ferrari...When I went off the track this morning, maybe I was still thinking a bit too much about the grass on the football pitch! I am very happy that Germany beat Argentina. It's a great result. Now I hope that Italy also wins, then we can all concentrate on our main objective which is to win the race on Sunday."

Felipe Massa:

"It was a good day's work. The car and Bridgestone tyres all worked very well. We have to study the data carefully, but I feel I can say this is the best first day we have had over a Grand Prix weekend for quite some time. I worked a lot on checking the consistency of the tyres, doing some long runs which produced encouraging results. All in all, I am confident for qualifying tomorrow and Sunday's race."

Ross Brawn:

"It's been a useful day. We worked well, without seeing any problems on the cars, which seemed quite well balanced right from the start. Also the Bridgestone tyres worked well from the outset. We had a bit of graining, but that could be down to the condition of the track, which is still dirty and has little rubber on it. All in all, a good start to the weekend."

Michael Schumacher
Chassis: 254
Practice session 1: 2nd, 1:12.458, 3 laps
Practice session 2: 6th, 1:13.346, 18 laps

Felipe Massa
Chassis: 252
Practice session 1: no time
Practice session 2: 4th, 1:13.264, 26 laps

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