Istanbul, 25th August 2006

What a difference a year makes. In 2005, the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team was badly off the pace here in Turkey, but twelve months later, Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher ended the first day of practice in second and sixth places respectively, both men more than happy with the performance of their package and looking forward to being front runners for the rest of the weekend. While the championship situation is close for both the Drivers' and Constructors' titles, there is no sign of stress in the team garage and Schumacher declared that he had really enjoyed dealing with the challenge of this demanding track today. The 248 F1 arrives here for the fourteenth round of the season with new turning vanes and rear brake ducts.
Fastest at the end of the day and making a little bit of history was Sebastian Vettel. The 19 year old is officially the youngest driver to ever take part in a grand prix weekend, although his role comes to an end today as he is the Friday-only driver for BMW Sauber. The German also made a less dramatic piece of history when, just nine seconds into the start of the first session this morning, he was fined $1000 for speeding in pit lane - apparently an unofficial record! Third fastest behind Felipe is the winner of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Jenson Button. The Honda driver's colleague Anthony Davidson was fourth, while Ralf Schumacher in the Toyota is fifth, just ahead of his brother.