Leinders Positive after Practice Debut

Belgian Bas Leinders was happy after finally making his Minardi debut on a Grand Prix weekend in today's practice at Sepang.

Minardi test driver Leinders was ruled out of the Australian Grand Prix after Formula One's governing body rejected his request for a super licence. Leinders was forced to travel back to Europe and complete a Grand Prix distance at Ferrari's Fiorano test track.

The Minardi driver was positive after practice, despite finishing at the bottom of the times over seven seconds off the pace.

"My first day of testing with the team has been a very positive experience," said Leinders. "I'm very satisfied with the way things went, especially since I had to learn everything today â€" the track, the car, the tyres. It was also good to be able to get to work quickly and start assisting the team to develop the car.

"We tried some new parts, which seemed to provide an improvement, and these should eventually find their way on to the race cars. I'm happy to have been able to help with this work, and I want to thank the team for making me feel very welcome today and helping me to settle in quickly."

Italian Gianmaria Bruni was the quickest of the Minardi drivers, posting the 21st best time ahead of Hungarian teammate Zsolt Baumgartner.

"It has been a good day, and even though we had a small technical problem this morning, it was solved quickly," said Bruni. "I'm happy with the work we did today, and also with my lap times, which were reasonably consistent. I made a few little mistakes on my quickest lap and I know for sure we can improve on that time tomorrow."