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Bahraini Grand Prix 31st March-3rd April 2005 - Ferrari Friday Press Release

Length: 5.417 km
Number of Laps: 57 (308.769 Km)
Best Lap: M. Schumacher - 1'30''252 (2004, Ferrari)
Record Pole: M. Schumacher - 1'30''139 (2004, Ferrari)
2004 Pole: M. Schumacher - 1'30''139 (Ferrari)
2004 Podium: M. Schumacher - R. Barrichello - J. Button

Jean Todt:
“It is always a special feeling to see a new car make its official debut at a Grand Prix weekend. I am rather cautious when it comes to making an initial assessment. On the one hand, Michael had a good day, allowing us to get a deeper understanding of how the car functions in race conditions. The performance of the car-tyre package leads us to believe that it has an encouraging potential, thanks to the great amount of work carried out by the team and our partners – first and foremost Bridgestone. On the other hand, there is Rubens’ gearbox problem, which prevented him from running in the second hour of practice. We are currently analysing the cause of the problem. In general, it is too early to have a clear picture and we will have to wait until tomorrow and Sunday for that, at a Grand Prix characterised by very high temperatures, although these conditions are the same for everyone. As usual on a Friday, the results are hard to understand. We don’t know our competitors’ programmes and in some cases, they benefit from running a third car.”

Michael Schumacher:
“It was really nice to be driving the new car for the first time at a race meeting. It felt very good. We ran through our entire planned programme and everything went very smoothly. Although we obviously did not get as much data as we had hoped for, because of Rubens’ problem, I did enough laps to have a good idea in which direction to work, in terms of tyre choice and car set-up. It was a trouble-free day and so a pleasing debut for the new car and an encouraging start to the weekend.”

Rubens Barrichello:
“At the end of the first session, I had a gearbox problem, which meant I could not run in the afternoon. It’s a shame, because the two timed laps I did showed that the car was well balanced. Now, we will have to study Michael’s data from the second hour. From what I could see, bringing along the F2005 means we have made a step forward.”

Ross Brawn:
“We had a problem with the gearbox on Rubens’ car and due to the lack of parts, we will have to repair it for tomorrow. Michael’s car ran well and he and the engineers made good progress during the sessions. The new car seems nice and consistent and is doing everything we expected from it. Therefore, that is cause for satisfaction. We have a lot of tyre data to study tonight, comparing lap times and wear rates, so that we can make our tyre choice for the rest of the weekend. Everything seems to be going well with the car, including its cooling, which is pleasing given the high ambient temperatures here.”

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