Williams Duo Happy Despite Slow Start

Heidfeld was only 16th quickest in the afternoon session after traffic stopped him from completing a clean flying lap at the tight Mediterranean circuit.

Despite finishing nearly two seconds off the pace, the Williams driver was happy to have completed his scheduled programme.

"It was a good Thursday here, and we had no technical problems," said Heidfeld. "It was good fun running on this outstanding circuit. Unfortunately, in the second session I didn't get in a clean lap in the end, due to many yellow flags.

"More importantly, we got all of our work done and we managed to do a lot of laps, which will help in our tyre decision, to be taken before Saturday."

Heidfeld's teammate Mark Webber, 12th quickest today, was also satisfied with his day's work, but the Australian claimed the team will need to find more pace for Saturday's qualifying.

"It was a pretty good day of running for us and we got through everything we had planned," said Webber. "We managed to do quite a lot of laps with both cars which is good.

"We are having a day off tomorrow so we'll have more time to look at the data and take the right decision, especially with regards to our tyre choice together with our partners Michelin. In general we are doing Ok, we just need to find a bit more pace."