Magny-Cours, 29th June 2007

The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro duo got the French Grand Prix weekend off to a good start today, with Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Felipe Massa in the morning session and the order reversed at the end of the second ninety minutes of practice in the afternoon. There were some unusual names in the top half dozen come the end of the day. A surprising third was Scott Speed for the Ferrari-powered Scuderia Toro Rosso team, while his team-mate, Tonio Liuzzi was fifth, although both men admitted they set their best times on low fuel loads. In between them was the McLaren-Mercedes of championship leader, Lewis Hamilton, while the Red Bull Racing-Renault of David Coulthard, a past winner of this event, was sixth. After missing the US Grand Prix on doctor's advice, after his very big accident in Canada, Robert Kubica is back behind the wheel of the Sauber BMW and finished today in twelfth position. Both Ferrari men completed twenty two laps in the morning, while in the afternoon, Felipe did thirty eight, ten more than his Finnish team-mate. Temperatures are higher than yesterday when everyone was complaining of the cold, but it is still much cooler than expected at what has in the past been one of the hottest races of the year. With track temperature having a significant effect on performance at this track, it will be interesting to watch how the situation evolves during qualifying tomorrow afternoon and which teams adapt best.