Kimi Raikkonen continued to set a blistering pace on Tuesday as formula one testing continued in Bahrain.
After on Monday beating the pole position time set at the Sakhir circuit last April, the Finn and reigning world champion on Tuesday went nearly two more seconds quicker for an unofficial circuit record at the wheel of Ferrari’s new F2008 during a qualifying run.
“Raikkonen is in another galaxy”, the Spanish sports newspaper Marca observed.
“Kimi’s (race weekend) simulation was good,” Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni told the local Gulf Daily News.
“We didn’t experience any problems, and he was able to get a better time than yesterday,” the Italian added.
In stark contrast, both Toyotas were struck with gearbox problems, and Jarno Trulli was nearly three seconds off Raikkonen’s leading pace.
“I think that we are still far from where we want it to be for the first race,” the Italian, referring to Toyota’s TF108 single seater, admitted.
La Gazzetta dello Sport surmised: “Toyota in crisis: the car is slow and breaks down”.
