06 May: Spanish Grand Prix - Friday Practice
Report - Ferrari
Free practice - First session Michael Schumacher: 4th 1.22.085 14 laps chassis 245 Rubens
Barrichello: 11th 1.23.797 10 laps chassis 246 Temperatures: air 21/23 °C, track 27/32 °C
Free practice – Second
session Rubens Barrichello: 11th 1.17.702 22 laps chassis 246 Michael Schumacher: 13th 1.18.042 22 laps chassis 245 Temperatures:
air 25/27 °C, track 36/39 °C
Jean Todt: “Today’s programme followed the usual pattern, concentrating mainly on finding the
best set-up for the car and choosing which type of tyre to use for qualifying and the race. At this track, the tyres play an even
more important role than elsewhere. Going on what we have seen in the two hours of running today, we must analyse all our data to do
the best possible job of preparing the cars. We can expect a very close fought weekend and, as usual, we will tackle it with great
determination as we strive to get the best possible result.”
Rubens Barrichello: “I did not run much this
morning because of a hydraulic problem with the car, which was then identified and solved. In the afternoon, I did some good runs
which produced plenty of useful data. I think that overall, we are not in as bad shape as seems to be the case if you just look at
the times. We know what small changes we can make to the car to be much stronger. As usual on a Friday, we don’t really know what
the opposition has done, so it is hard to get a clear picture of the situation. I am optimistic because the situation is quite
similar to Imola, in that we can expect to have a very competitive car for the race.”
Michael Schumacher: “Our
performance today did not look very promising. We must now analyse all the data to see in what areas we can improve the car.
Tomorrow morning’s work will involve the usual job of finding the right compromise between being quick over a single lap for
qualifying and being able to maintain a strong race pace. We did plenty of laps today, so we have all the data we need to achieve
that.”
Ross Brawn: “We had some technical problems today, which slowed our programme slightly. But the team
recovered well and we made up for lost time in the afternoon. I hope the rest of the weekend goes smoothly. We did the usual
comparison between the two types of Bridgestone tyre and I think it is pretty clear which way we have to go. I think we can have a
good race pace. The challenge will be in doing a similarly good first qualifying lap and work on that will start tomorrow morning.”
