Mugello test, day 2: Massa impresses

Massa had the Italian track to himself on Tuesday, but today (Wednesday) he was joined by Honda stable mates Jordan and British American Racing. The young Brazilian is competing for the vacant seat at Sauber alongside Nick Heidfeld for next year, and seems to be making an impression.

After being asked back by the Swiss team to test this week, Massa put in a best lap of 1m26.11s, but today set his best time of 1m25.67s, two tenths ahead of Alesi, early in the morning session.

"I was enjoying today very much," Massa told Autosport.com. "We had a very productive day. Somehow the circuit was a lot dirtier than before, towards the end of the afternoon. We played a lot with the set-up.

"This is the second time I have been here and I really like this circuit - it is so fast and interesting. Tomorrow I am doing a tyre programme, which should be interesting too."

Alesi had two EJ11s at his disposal and completed back to back tests for the Jordan-Honda team. The Frenchman concentrated on set-up and tyre development work for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka in 10 day's time. He is joined tomorrow by F1 hopeful Justin Wilson.

Formula 3000 ace Darren Manning got back behind the wheel for the BAR team as he attempts to firm up his plans for next year. The young Brit was thrown back in the deep end by the Brackley-based team and completed 10 five-lap stints of component testing for next year's car.

The fourth and final slot went to Manning's fellow BAR test driver Anthony Davidson. The British Formula 3 Championship runner-up finished just over a second behind Massa's leading time as he re-acclimatised to the BAR003 after crashing at the end of his first high-speed run at Mugello last month.

World champion Michael Schumacher broke the lap record at Ferrari's Fiorano test track today, which now stands at 58.792s. He completed 85 laps (10 on the short course) during the day. Test driver Luca Badoer, meanwhile, completed 15 laps with a best time of 59.840s.

Felipe Massa, Sauber-Petronas B, 1m25.67s, 79
Jean Alesi, Jordan-Honda B, 1m25.87s, 96
Darren Manning, BAR-Honda B, 1m26.64s, 52
Anthony Davdison, BAR-Honda B, 1m26.72s, 70

For full Felipe Massa Q&A, click here.