World champions confident

Schumacher was quickest of all in the first session, but although he improved by half a second in session two, it was not enough to pip Raikkonen. The world champion's team-mate Rubens Barrichello was second fastest in session one but had a nightmare second hour to end up ninth. The Brazilian couldn't seem to string a fast lap together and ended up badly flat-spotting a set of tyres with a massive lock-up.

For all that however it is Friday and thus difficult to make preditions. But it did seem that on used tyres the Ferrari drivers experienced less performance drop-off from their tyres than their Michelin-shod rivals.

"It was a good Friday session and I am happy with the work we achieved and how things are going in general," said Michael Schumacher. "I feel quite confident for the rest of the weekend. I experienced no problems with the car.

"Some of our competitors look quick, but as usual on a Friday it is hard to assess their performance without knowing exactly what programme they were running."

Barrichello was unconcerned with his lowly position on the timing sheet: "I had a bit of an odd day, because I was running very well on worn tyres and the car felt good. However, on new tyres I encountered traffic and I flat spotted a front tyre which meant I was not able to push for a quick time on new tyres.

"It is difficult to know where I stand, even though I am happy with the car and think it is looking good for the rest of the weekend."

Ross Brawn confirmed Ferrari's optimism: "Today has given us the first picture of what to expect and I think we can be very competitive here. We did some good long runs to evaluate the tyres.

"The drivers are fairly happy with the cars. Now we must see how the track develops over the weekend and try and anticipate what kind of track conditions we can expect for Sunday."