Whilst team-mate Felipe Massa set the pace – as has become his wont around the Istanbul Park circuit in recent years – Kimi Raikkonen endured a rather less-than-perfect day during opening practice for this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix.

The world championship leader – bidding to extend his current nine-point advantage in the drivers' standings on the back of two victories and a runner-up position from the last three races – encountered a gearbox issue in the morning, restricting him to just three laps on-track. The knock-on effect in the afternoon – even if he did narrowly lap quickest in the second 90-minute session – left him in a frustrated third place at the close.

“Not the best of Fridays,” the Finn concluded. “This morning, I only managed one timed lap before a gearbox problem meant I could not go out for the rest of the session. In the afternoon, I struggled a bit to find the right settings on the car.

“One of the main problems today was getting the tyres up to the correct temperature, but I think that tomorrow – partly as the grip level on the track improves and partly as we work to improve the set-up – it will be a different situation. We lost valuable time this morning, but we still have enough data to analyse so we can be ready to tackle the rest of the weekend.”

Massa, for his part, enjoyed a much-more trouble-free run, consistently on the pace and looking in fine form to make it three consecutive triumphs in Istanbul.

“Overall, this was a positive day,” the Brazilian acknowledged. “The track is very fast, even if it's still a bit dirty, which meant it was quite easy to make mistakes. The low temperatures mean it is difficult to get the most out of the tyres on a first timed lap, especially on the harder ones.

“We tried various settings and now we need to look at the data from everything we have done over these three hours, to be as well-prepared as possible. I feel comfortable on this track and I think I can be very competitive tomorrow and on Sunday in the race. It would be fantastic to win again here, after having done it for the past two years.”

The Scuderia's technical director Luca Baldisserri was not entirely happy with the day's outcome, however, insisting that much more work has yet to be done if the two scarlet machines are to stave off the threat of a resurgent McLaren-Mercedes over the remainder of the weekend.

“This Friday's free practice did not go entirely to plan,” the Italian admitted. “This morning we had a gearbox problem on Kimi's car which meant he was stuck in the pits for most of the first session. Felipe managed to get through his planned programme and is reasonably satisfied with the handling of his car, while Kimi is less so.

“As usual for a Friday, we worked on finding the best set-up on the car and on a comparison of the two types of Bridgestone tyre available to us. Now we have to study all the data we have gathered to understand how to improve the performance on both cars.”

“For the umpteenth time today we learnt, if indeed we needed to learn it, that it only takes the slightest little hitch to lose valuable time,” agreed team principal Stefano Domenicali. “From what we saw on-track, it is very close between us and our main competitors. From our side, we need to work very carefully to find the right settings for both cars and to be in the best possible shape for qualifying and, above all, for the race.”