Ferrari clocked the two fastest times in the second practice Friday for the Malaysian Grand Prix giving rise to hope that the Formula One team will be able to make up for its disastrous season debut in Melbourne last Sunday.
Driver Kimi Raikkonen topped the time sheet in the second practice and teammate Felipe Massa was just over a tenth of a second behind him.
This was a far cry from Australia where they were slow in qualifying and then both failed to end the race.
''The three hours of practice here gave a different picture than what happened in Australia, but this was to be expected given the different characteristics of the two tracks,'' observed Ferrari principal Stefano Domenicali.
''Of course it's still too early to say what our performance will be in the race. But reliability remains our top priority and today we had a technical problem which, had it occured during a race, would have forced the car to drop out,'' he added.
''Nevertheless, we need to stay focused and be humble, well aware that we will need to fight hard to get results, Domenicali said.
The technical problem which Ferrari suffered had to do with the new KERS power boosting device in Raikkonen's car.
KERS is an acronym for 'kinetic energy recovery system' and the device is designed to exploit energy produced from braking.
''This morning we had a problem with the KERS, which cost us a bit of time, but we managed to make up for most of it in the afternoon,'' Raikkonen said after the second practice.
''What we saw today was that when the car runs trouble-free, we are competitive. Let's hope we can do a good job in tomorrow's qualifying,'' the Finn added.
Massa observed that ''the situation seems different here than in Australia, at least in regard to how the tires operate. There is more grip and the softer tires work well, even over a long distance''.
''For sure, looking at the time sheets today, there's a slight sense of relief, even if it has to be treated with caution,'' the Brazilian added.
There will be a third practice session Saturday at 2pm (local) and qualifying will start at 5pm, the same time as the race on Sunday.
Because of the late start, races usually begin at 2pm, there is an increased risk of rain in this tropical climate, something which Raikkonen and Massa agree will turn the race into a gamble.
''When it rains here it tends to fall very hard. It rains like crazy for about half an hour then it stops, and the track dries very quickly. This makes it tricky, especially for qualifying,'' Raikkonen observed.
''I have no idea what effect the rain might have this weekend: it could be good, it could be bad. For sure it will be a gamble which could completely change the result of the race,'' Massa added.
The current forecast for Saturday and Sunday is for variable cloudiness with a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms.
