Felipe Massa enjoyed a perfect end to his winter period on Thursday by becoming the only driver in six days of testing in Bahrain to break into the 1m30sec barrier.
A further sign of the Brazilian’s burgeoning confidence ahead of the 2007 championship was that, despite the fact that it was his last day of pre-season running before Melbourne, he handed the F2007’s new bodywork package over to Kimi Raikkonen at lunchtime.
But much like the rest of the fifteen-strong field at Sakhir, Finn Raikkonen, 27, failed to get within half a second of the leading pace, after Massa dominated the second week in the Arab Gulf.
World champion Fernando Alonso also struggled to keep up, as Mercedes’ Norbert Haug observed: “I cannot promise race victories but we have improved compared to last season.”
He told the newspaper Stuttgarter Nachrichten: “We have never worked as hard as this.”
Heikki Kovalainen was Thursday’s next best, as like Massa he too surpassed the test’s previous fastest lap set by Nick Heidfeld.
“Now we have to do this in Melbourne,” Massa declared to the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Bahrain day 6
1 F. Massa Ferrari 01:29.989 45
2 H. Kovalainen Renault 01:30.384 61
3 G. Fisichella Renault 01:30.498 64
4 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 01:30.534 77
5 F. Alonso McLaren 01:30.564 113
6 R. Barrichello Honda 01:31.0F1 in general 118
7 P. de la Rosa McLaren 01:31.354 90
8 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:31.500 124
9 D. Coulthard Red Bull 01:31.589 66
10 N. Heidfeld BMW 01:31.720 83
11 M. Webber Red Bull 01:31.742 92
12 R. Kubica BMW 01:31.751 98
13 R. Schumacher Toyota 01:31.791 81
14 J. Button Honda 01:31.837 97
15 F. Montagny Toyota 01:32.264 119
16 T. Sato Super Aguri 01:33.357 53
GMMF1
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