Jordan off the pace

With 25 cars taking part Nick Heidfeld was 20th, test driver Timo Glock 23rd, and Giorgio Pantano a frustrated 24th. The last two were ahead of only new Minardi tester Bas Leinders.

Although the three cars had no mechanical problems the lack of pace is a serious concern. Heidfeld was more than 2.7s slower than the Jaguar of Mark Webber, which uses a similar Cosworth engine, while Pantano was 4.3s shy of the quickest Jaguar.

The fact that Felipe Massa was as high as seventh suggested that there might be more to the story than simply Bridgestone being caught by Michelin in the Malaysian heat.

"It's positive that we had no technical problems today and did the planned amount of laps," said Heidfeld. "However, the car is quite difficult to drive and we are struggling to find a good balance. We were hoping for some different tyres this weekend however Bridgestone are working hard to achieve this for us at the next race. We will look at the data now."

"I have to say I'm not happy about today," rued Pantano. "We need to understand what's happening because I don't feel good with the car at the moment - whether it's me or the car I don't know yet so we will look into everything and try and make sure we can be better tomorrow."

At this race the team is running in the livery of Sobranie, a local Gallahers brand, rather than with the familiar B&H logos. The name will also be seen at Shanghai and selected other races.