Brawn happy with Ferrari's step forward

The Italian squad, who failed to keep their momentum going in Malaysia and Australia after a strong Bahrain Grand Prix, are using several new components at Imola, in the hope to fight for their first win since last year's United States Grand Prix.

Ferrari claim they have also solved their engine problems, which means they will be able to run their units at full power during the weekend.

"Aero is a two, threes tenths step forward," said technical director Ross Brawn after today's practice. "And being able to run the engine in the sort of form we want to is another few tenths, so it's a reasonable step from what we had in Australia."

Michael Schumacher enjoyed a promising first day at Ferrari's home track, the German finishing on top in the morning and second only to Fernando Alonso in the afternoon. His teammate Felipe Massa finished in fifth.

Brawn reiterated the team's claims that there's nothing wrong with the 248 F1 car, saying they have failed to maximise its potential.

"We feel we have a good car and we've not quite realised it and I think today we've reinforced that," Brawn added.

"The car was well balanced, both drivers found plenty of grip. We found some different set-ups - some improved it and some went in the wrong direction, but generally the car was good.

"Both drivers tried the two tyres available and both were quite good, so it was quite difficult to choose between the two compounds. Both seemed to be working quite well."