Scuderia Ferrari started the weekend's action at Indianapolis off in promising form, both drivers on the pace during yesterday's (Friday) two official free practice sessions. As is the usual form the Friday sessions don't paint a true picture of the patterns that will emerge during qualifying and then the race, but they do provide pointers to form. Honda's regular Friday test driver Anthony Davidson was fastest in both sessions, with Michael Schumacher second quickest to the British pilot in the opening session, four-tenths of a second adrift, a practice which saw 16 cars taking part. Felipe Massa, who missed the first session, was fourth fastest in the second, with his team mate two places further back.

Jean Todt: "We are very happy to be back here in Indianapolis, a temple of motor sport on a world scale, which last year staged a race that, for reasons we are well aware of, was rather strange. It was good to see the warm welcome with which the American public greeted Ferrari. This country is the number one market for our company, with a legend built up around it even without the backing of Formula 1, which is so important in other countries. As for the technical side, we went through our usual Friday routine, concentrating mainly on finding the best set up for the cars and checking the consistency of performance of our tyres. Friday is always too soon to make predictions, but from what we have seen, here more than elsewhere tyre performance will be crucial, both in terms of first lap performance and in their consistency over the longer distance. It is up to our engineers and our friends at Bridgestone to do a good job of analysing the data we acquired today."

Michael Schumacher: "I am happy with what we have seen on track today. The situation looks pretty good, which means we can tackle the rest of the weekend with confidence. Let's say I had more problems trying to watch the quarter finals on television than I did in the cockpit of my Ferrari...
 

"When I went off the track this morning, maybe I was still thinking a bit too much about the grass on the football pitch! I am very happy that Germany beat Argentina. It's a great result. Now I hope that Italy also wins, then we can all concentrate on our main objective which is to win the race on Sunday."

Felipe Massa: "It was a good day's work. The car and Bridgestone tyres all worked very well. We have to study the data carefully, but I feel I can say this is the best first day we have had over a Grand Prix weekend for quite some time. I worked a lot on checking the consistency of the tyres, doing some long runs which produced encouraging results. All in all, I am confident for qualifying tomorrow and Sunday's race."

Ross Brawn: "It's been a useful day. We worked well, without seeing any problems on the cars, which seemed quite well balanced right from the start. Also the Bridgestone tyres worked well from the outset. We had a bit of graining, but that could be down to the condition of the track, which is still dirty and has little rubber on it. All in all, a good start to the weekend."

Free practice - First session: Michael Schumacher: 2nd 1.12.458 3 laps chassis 254; Felipe Massa: - - - chassis 252; Temperatures: air 25/27 °C, track 35/39 °C

Free practice - Second session: Felipe Massa: 4th 1.13.264 26 laps chassis 252; Michael Schumacher: 6th 1.13.346 18 laps chassis 254; Temperatures: air 28 °C, track 39/37 °C