Peter Sauber comments on his first impression of the Istanbul circuit: “The infrastructure here at the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix is as good as we have come to expect from Herman Tilke’s new venues, but I have never heard so many positive comments from the drivers about a new circuit’s layout. To me, this is the most important thing today.”

And virtually all drivers agree that this latest masterpiece by the Sepang circuit designer is by far his best work so far. Possessing a good flow throughout, Jacques Villeneuve’s ‘love at first sight’ for the circuit was evident as he clocked 1:28.404s on a well balanced C24.

“This is a great track!” exclaimed JV. “It’s got a nice flow to it and is really good to drive. Of course, it was quite dirty still today but I think it was better than it would have been if it was really hot. The balance on my car was good, and overall this was pretty similar to the other Fridays we’ve had this year.”

Teammate Felipe Massa was also not too far off with the Brazilian clocking just two hundredth of a second slower to land 17th. Reporting that the car has good handling on different tyre setups, Massa is optimistic of a good qualifying and race.

He said, “My car was quite consistent in both sessions and we are more competitive than I thought we would be. The handling was very good on both of our tyre options, so we need to think very carefully before we make our final choice. It’s not a clear one. We are in good shape, I would say.

He added, “As for this track, it’s a fantastic place! Lots of different corners, and a real challenge. I love driving here.”

In today’s overcast first practice session, Toyota’s Ricardo Zonta made a brilliant final run to lead the opening day’s timesheets over the McLaren Mercedes trio of Pedro de la Rosa, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen. Button, Luizzi and the two Renaults of Alonso and Fisichella settled for positions 5th to 8th respectively while Sauber’s Villeneuve is sandwiched by the two Ferraris in 13th and 15th.