Ferrari fired out a warning to its rivals back in Europe during the second day of the Bahrain test as Kimi Raikkonen set a searing pace in the new F2008.
The world champion’s best lap of 1m30.595s was two seconds faster than the best effort recorded during last year’s race weekend at Sakhir as he completed a full grand prix simulation.
In milder and less windy conditions than the opening day, Raikkonen ran through a practice of all three qualifying sessions and an entire race distance.
Ferrari’s veteran test driver Luca Badoer was once again second on the timesheets, on a 1m32.230s, and spent the session focusing on general development of the F2008.
Meanwhile the other team in action in Bahrain, Toyota, welcomed Jarno Trulli back for day two of the test.
However both the Italian and team-mate Timo Glock were out on track for less time than planned after both of their TF108s ran into gearbox problems.
“Our focus today was again on developing the baseline set-up by trying different mechanical solutions but unfortunately we lost a bit of time on both cars due to gearbox issues,” said Toyota’s chassis manager Pascal Vasselon.
“This was a shame but we have been testing various parts, including the new gearbox, and we will learn from these issues to improve our package before the season starts.
“We lost some time but we didn’t really lose any mileage as such because the reliability of the TF108 so far has been very good and we would have needed to control the mileage anyway.
“We carried out some productive work today and I feel we are improving constantly as we learn more about the TF108’s characteristics.”
Glock ended up third on the timesheet, half a second up on Trulli’s best effort.
The final day of the first leg of the Bahrain test will see Felipe Massa make his first appearance of the week for Ferrari alongside Raikkonen.
Testing times from Bahrain (February 5)
1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m30.595s
2. BADOER Ferrari 1m32.230s
3. GLOCK Toyota 1m32.889s
4. TRULLI Toyota 1m33.379s
The world champion’s best lap of 1m30.595s was two seconds faster than the best effort recorded during last year’s race weekend at Sakhir as he completed a full grand prix simulation.
In milder and less windy conditions than the opening day, Raikkonen ran through a practice of all three qualifying sessions and an entire race distance.
Ferrari’s veteran test driver Luca Badoer was once again second on the timesheets, on a 1m32.230s, and spent the session focusing on general development of the F2008.
Meanwhile the other team in action in Bahrain, Toyota, welcomed Jarno Trulli back for day two of the test.
However both the Italian and team-mate Timo Glock were out on track for less time than planned after both of their TF108s ran into gearbox problems.
“Our focus today was again on developing the baseline set-up by trying different mechanical solutions but unfortunately we lost a bit of time on both cars due to gearbox issues,” said Toyota’s chassis manager Pascal Vasselon.
“This was a shame but we have been testing various parts, including the new gearbox, and we will learn from these issues to improve our package before the season starts.
“We lost some time but we didn’t really lose any mileage as such because the reliability of the TF108 so far has been very good and we would have needed to control the mileage anyway.
“We carried out some productive work today and I feel we are improving constantly as we learn more about the TF108’s characteristics.”
Glock ended up third on the timesheet, half a second up on Trulli’s best effort.
The final day of the first leg of the Bahrain test will see Felipe Massa make his first appearance of the week for Ferrari alongside Raikkonen.
Testing times from Bahrain (February 5)
1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m30.595s
2. BADOER Ferrari 1m32.230s
3. GLOCK Toyota 1m32.889s
4. TRULLI Toyota 1m33.379s
Source: ITV
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