Happy Raikkonen predicts close fight

The Finn set a best time 1:20.649 in the morning, finishing half a second ahead of his closest non-Ferrari rival, and a more modest 1:21.935 in the afternoon.

The Ferrari driver, a winner at Barcelona in 2005, was happy with his day's work, although he is still expecting tough competition in qualifying and the race.

"I am pleased with this first day of testing. We did the work we needed to do and had no problems, this being probably the most positive thing," he said.

"The balance of the car is good, even if there is always room to improve and its handling was also good on both types of tyre. As usual on Friday, it is hard to judge where we are up against our rivals and I think we can expect a very close fight."

Teammate Felipe Massa was second fastest in the morning but dropped down to fifth in the later session.

The Brazilian said he could have been quicker in not for traffic.

"This was a good day," he said. "From what we have seen, I think we will be competitive this weekend and we are working in the right direction. Track conditions will improve over the next couple of days. Today, it was a bit on the limit and it was easy to make mistakes.

"In fact, when I spun this morning, I flat spotted the left rear tyre and that's why I didn't do many laps in the first session, as it wasn't worth using a new set of tyres.

"I could have posted a quicker time in the afternoon, but I had some traffic on my first flying lap on soft tyres. It's my birthday today and I would love to give myself a nice present on Sunday."