Ferrari plays down gap to rivals

The team spent all day at the top of the timesheets and, after the one hour morning session, Schumacher was 1.9s faster than Jarno Trulli's third placed Renault. Ferrari sporting director Jean Todt believes that the gap may have given a false indication of form however due to the nature of the new regulations regarding one-engine-per-weekend which have forced teams to re-organise their weekend programmes.

"The new regulations have changed the Friday timetable which is now almost exclusively dedicated to evaluating the two types of tyre available," said Todt, "while taking into account that the engine used today has to last all the way to the end of Sunday's race.

"It is always pleasing to see two Bridgestone-shod Ferraris consistently out in front of the field, but we are well aware that today's result is not so significant. The serious business comes tomorrow in qualifying and we are mindful of how important it will be for the race to be able to start from the front of the grid."

World champion Michael Schumacher, who remained fastest for the entire day was also cautious to presume that Ferrari has a genuine advantage: "I am happy with the performance of the car which has matched our expectations after winter testing. But we should not read too much into the lap times, as it is too early to say if this is a true picture of the order among the teams: in fact, I doubt that it is.

"Today, we worked mainly on adapting the car's set-up for this circuit. I went off the track three times during the course of the day, which was mainly due to the wind, which was strong and not consistent and it can catch you out in terms of judging your braking point."