Once again, the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team ran their day on two fronts during the opening practice sessions here at the famous Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.

On the one hand, there was regular racer Kimi Raikkonen setting the third fastest time of the day, the Finn having a pleasing afternoon, while on the other, Luca Badoer, who is currently filling in for the injured Felipe Massa, was again at the tail end of the field.

“I am pleased with the work we have done today and the overall feeling is a positive one,” Kimi said. “The car seems to be quick, even though we know it’s only Friday and therefore we cannot be entirely sure where we are compared to the others. We had a few technical problems, although they didn’t have a significant effect on the way we got through our planned programme for the day.”

In regard to Badoer’s poor time, the Italian driver explained that he is yet to find the ideal set up on his F60....

“In the wet this morning I was reasonably happy with my performance, even if I would have preferred to have run all the time in the dry, to increase my understanding of the car. In the afternoon, we made some modifications to the set-up, but I still haven’t managed to find the ideal settings for my driving style and so, I didn’t have the right feel for the car to attack all the corners. We still have a session available to us to work on the car tomorrow morning. My aim for qualifying is very simple: to make the cut at the end of Q1.”

“The results of free practice always have to be looked at with a pinch of salt, as we don’t know what programmes the other teams are running,” added Stefano Domenicali. “For our part, we can be satisfied with the performance of the F60, which showed itself to be competitive both in the dry and in the wet. Kimi was very quick and I think that he can be a major player this weekend. Furthermore, we have seen how close it is, with nineteen drivers all within just over one second of one another: clearly, all you need is to have around ten litres of fuel more or less on board to change the look of the time sheet. In twentieth place, Luca has made a step forward compared to Valencia, showing that what he needs most is to do more kilometres on track. This morning’s rain definitely did not help him, even if he was more competitive in these conditions than in the afternoon. We expect to see him continue to improve throughout the weekend.”