Trulli laments lack of running

The Toyota driver, who last year finished on the podium at the Sakhir race, stopped on track during the afternoon session when his car hit gearbox-related electronics problems.

"It was a pity that I was not able to complete my afternoon's work today," said Trulli, who finished as 22nd quickest. "The Sakhir circuit was initially very dusty and dirty so like many teams we did most of our running in the second session.

"I was in the start of a long run for tyre comparison when I suffered an electronics problem which brought my session to a premature close.

"Not the best of days, then, but at least we have some data to work with overnight in preparation for tomorrow. It will be a brand new system of qualifying but the approach will be the same, to put together a quick lap when it matters."

His teammate Ralf Schumacher enjoyed a trouble-free day but the German did not look competitive in the TF106 car, finishing down in 24th position, more than four seconds off the pace.

"Our laptimes were not to the level of some but we are still learning how to make the most of our package in warm conditions," he said. "We have a lot of changes on our car from last year and all our testing so far has taken place at lower temperatures.

"We will analyse the data tonight to make our tyre choice for the next two days."