Neither Fisichella or
Heikki Kovalainen deviate from the belief that Barcelona is going to be another hard weekend, but both insist that they remain positive in spirit.
"The test last week gave us the opportunity to find a good set-up with the car and to work with some new parts," the Italian commented, "We are going in the right direction, and everybody in the team is very motivated, but our competitors are clearly working hard too and moving forward. The competition is very close at the moment, and we will need to be ready to battle again this weekend."
Ferrari – Felipe Massa (#5), Kimi Raikkonen (#6):
Like unexpected title rival
Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen has been counting the days between Bahrain and Barcelona, eager to get his season underway again after having to settle for third place in the desert. Team-mate
Felipe Massa, meanwhile, has been happy to bask in his Bahrain win, but remains determined to continue his battle for supremacy, both within the team and in
F1 in general.
"More than ever, I can't wait to get back on the track, especially because the test session at the Catalunya was really positive," Raikkonen said, "We were able to improve the F2007 considerably, because the new components work really well and the car is now much closer to my style of driving. I'm much more optimistic now. It's true that you never know how competitive you really are compared to the other teams during the test sessions - and, obviously, for that we have to wait for the qualifying and the race - but the lap times [from testing] give us some hints.
"As I already said over the last weeks, we have to improve the performance in qualifying. It was not really easy for me to get all the potential out of the car on a single lap, because we never managed to prepare it to the best, but now I'm really happy about the steps forward."
Massa agrees that the Barcelona test was a success, with Ferrari topping the times on three of the four days.
"We have definitely made some improvements to the car, which was always planned for this first session after the opening three races outside Europe," he revealed, "The team has worked very hard and the reward is a good step forward, especially on the aerodynamic side. Apart from the new aero package, which includes a new engine cover, front wing and modified side pods, we have also come up with some changes to the mechanical side of the car, and that led to us seeing improvements in the set-up. The result of these changes is that the car is not only quick, but also more consistent.
