Massa’s Ferrari team has been strongly critical of the way the increased F1 entry was handled, and the Brazilian said the newcomers’ lack of speed is a concern for him too.

“I hope they won’t be a danger,” said Massa in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reprinted on Ferrari’s website.

“There are six/seven teams one second apart while those teams are four seconds behind. It’s not good for the sport and not good for them: it’s like two different series.

“They’ll suffer. And we’ll suffer too, when we have them in front of us during qualifying.”

Lotus and Virgin were several seconds off the pace in pre-season testing, but are confident they will get up to speed given time and mileage, while fellow newcomer Hispania will not run until Bahrain next weekend.

Matt Beer – Autosport

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Bortolotti and Zampieri have already tested for Ferrari as their prize for winning the Italian Formula 3 title in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

Having raced in Formula 2 last year, Bortolotti is set for a GP3 seat with Addax in 2010, while Zampieri will drive for Pons in Formula Renault 3.5.

Marciello, a 15-year-old karting graduate, will be placed in Italian single-seater category Formula Abarth (formerly Formula Azzurra) this year.

Ferrari has also revealed that the champion in new Brazilian series Formula Future Fiat will automatically become part of its Academy programme next year.

Matt Beer – Autosport

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With Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa both upbeat about the progress of the F10 in pre-season testing, Domenicali believes the defining factor this season will be in how quickly teams can bring updates to their cars.

“What we could see, and considering all the unknown factors in the testing, I think that we’ve shown that we can be competitive and are part of the top group in terms of pure performance and also on the long run,” Domenicali told the official Ferrari website.

“This is an important result considering how we ended the last season just a little more than four months ago in Abu Dhabi; we’ve worked a lot over the last months. Now we have to continue with the F10’s development, because this will be the key to this season.”

Domenicali believes the battle for glory in F1 this season is finely poised – with no team enjoying the kind of advantage that Brawn GP enjoyed in 2009.

“I’m not used to make forecasts, but it’s clear that it will be a very balanced championship, not like last year,” continued Domenicali. “Before the tests we thought that there might be four teams able to fight for the title. But what we’ve seen so far there might be even more.

“Furthermore there are still some questions to be solved, such as the tyres’ behaviour at high temperatures and the race strategy management. Just to name a few.

“With the performances so close together, a slight mistake will be enough not to enter Q3, which means that we have to give it our all, all the time: team, drivers, and car. We know that we’re fighting against very strong teams from a very different season, who have worked very hard during the winter and who want to win. We’re ready for the challenge ahead.”

Autosport – Jonathan Noble

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The 28-year-old Brazilian, who spent much of the final Barcelona test day running with a heavy fuel load, finished third quickest today.

Ferrari has been strong at all the pre-season tests – topping all three days at Valencia at the start of the month and regularly setting a strong pace on long runs. But Massa pointed to the narrow margins at the test today: eight cars were within half a second of Lewis Hamilton’s fastest lap for McLaren.

“I’m satisfied with the whole of testing, not just Barcelona,” said Massa. “Valencia and Jerez too – we did what we wanted to do, but it looks like it will be a very tough and competitive championship.

“We never expected to have an advantage and to go to the first race and win in an easy way, definitely not. We expect to have a competitive car, and this I think we have done. The car is reliable, but also consistent, and that is what we want to start the season.

“We are not here to be the champions of the pre-season. We are here to work on the car, to try to have a good championship and fighting for the championship.”

Massa also says that he is working extremely well with new team-mate Fernando Alonso, who has already claimed the F10 is the best F1 machine he has ever driven.

“My relationship is good with everybody,” said Massa. “I never had any problems with team-mates.

“I’m 100 per cent sure that I will never have a problem with Fernando. We work well together, and that’s what’s important.

“He is intelligent and knows that what is important to the team is to have a great car. I know that as well, so we are working very well in a good direction.”

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For the second day running, the rain hit the Spanish track during the session, with strong winds making things even more difficult.

Massa, who managed 92 laps on his way to the fifth fastest time, admitted the day had been far from ideal.

“No, not really,” Massa said when asked if the day had been more useful than yesterday. “It was pretty similar conditions: raining, stopping, raining, stopping. Today the track was even much worse because of the very strong wind.

“It was not so positive, but it’s the same for everybody. It’s important to be here, running in the went and in the dry. It doesn’t matter the conditions, it’s important to run and make the mileage on the car. We are maybe the team who run the most so I think that’s positive.”

The Ferrari driver said the conditions had made it almost impossible for the team to focus on anything other than on racking up miles.

“It’s just mileage. There was not a lot to do in terms of set-up, or to try something new in the car,” the Brazilian added. “It was just a day to run as much as possible and to understand some small issues that you can have in the first race.”

And Massa insisted it was too early to judge who Ferrari’s rivals are at the moment, but he is convinced Red Bull and McLaren will be strong.

“For sure he’s one of our rivals,” said Massa of Sebastian Vettel, quickest yesterday. “I expect a good Red Bull, especially after the end of last season.

“But I hope we can be there fighting for the best position, together with Red Bull and McLaren, I would say. They can be pretty strong. But at the moment it’s a bit too early to say so we are just concentrating on our job.”

The Brazilian will be replaced by team-mate Fernando Alonso for the remaining two days of the test.

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The Spaniard was fastest of all in last week’s first pre-season test at Valencia, with the early indications suggesting that Ferrari has an early edge in its preparations for the 2010 season.

The F10 will feature a few mechanical updates for this week’s run, with the team not intending to bring any aerodynamic improvements until the next Jerez test – when the team is expected to use its second chassis for the first time.

The Jerez test is set to feature 10 teams – with Force India, Virgin Racing and Red Bull Racing joining the seven current outfits who tested at Valencia.

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After the test Ferrari’s technical personnel were keen to underline that it was too soon to make definitive judgements about form, and di Montezemolo says he shares their caution.

“I’m happy to see that our car looks like it was born well,” he was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport. “But this pre-season testing is like football in August. I think that the only positive aspect is the feeling that the car was born well.

“We have many problems to solve and we must keep our feet on the ground. We don’t yet know how good the others are and how much fuel they had on board. Alonso’s and Massa’s results are an encouraging first signal, but it’s too soon to pass judgement.”

Di Montezemolo believes at least three other teams will be battling with Ferrari for the 2010 title.

“I think Mercedes – ex-Brawn and ex-Honda, as everyone here buys teams but the only real constructor left is us – is the rival to beat,” he said.

“Then there is Red Bull, I’m certain it will be very competitive considering the advantage they ended the season with last year. And there’s McLaren too.”

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Despite Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso leading the way in this week’s first pre-season F1 test in Valencia, Ferrari is remaining cautious about what the early indications are of the 2010 cars.

And with the team vowing to wait for one more further test before adding aerodynamic improvements to its car, the clear picture of form may not become clear for a while.

Technical director Aldo Costa told the official Ferrari website: “We see that we are fast but we don’t know how much we are fast compared to the others.

“The good thing is that…all the calculations and all the evaluations during the design and production of the new car are seeing a good result on the track.”

Costa said there had been no unexpected problems with the F10, and that the team, plus Massa and Alonso, were pleased with the situation it was in.

“The feedback in general was good,” he said. “It is a good baseline to develop the car for the next test and the first few races, so positive.”

Ferrari will bring some mechanical developments to next week’s Jerez test, before new aero parts arrive for the second run out at the Spanish track the following week.

Costa also confirmed that Ferrari was running a ‘highly’ tapered gearbox on the F10 to try and maximise the effectiveness of the car’s double diffuser.

And he also expressed some hope that a fresh double diffuser controversy marring the start of the season could be averted.

“The FIA is keeping things in check and is answering every team with regards to the doubts and the realization of the double diffuser,” he was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport. “Unfortunately, this rule book is open to many interpretations.”

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Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso dominated proceedings at Valencia in Spain with both drivers the only men to lap under the 1m12s barrier. Alonso ended up quickest of all with a best time of 1m11.470s.

But despite that performance, Domenicali is still wary of the team’s opposition – and thinks the characteristics of Valencia, allied to hugely varying fuel loads, mean the picture from testing is still not clear.

“There are no miracles in Formula 1: if you want to be fast you have to work hard for months and months and then you’ll meet your competitors, who have as much capacities and are as motivated as you,” he told the official Ferrari website.

“We can’t take anything for granted and we shouldn’t delude ourselves by indications, which could be completely misleading. We can’t work like in football where two good or bad results are enough [for you] to pass from riches to rags or vice versa.”

He added: “We know very well that the tests’ lap times, especially this year, have to be handled with care. Using an Italian expression from football, we’re still in ‘August football.’

“We can’t forget where we were in terms of performance at the last GP last year. There is still a lot of work to do to close the gap and there are still many problems we have to solve. And then we don’t know the petrol loads the other cars had on board, so it’s impossible to get a clear idea of the relative strengths on the track. Maybe someone also wants to play hide and seek, and some still have to present their cars.”

Domenicali was delighted, however, at the perfect reliability Ferrari enjoyed – as it completed the test with any major drama.

“If there is one thing we’re really satisfied with then it’s the reliability the car has shown,” he said. “More than 1,400 kilometres driven is a very good start and we need to ensure that the intense work at the test stand, and in terms of simulations over the weeks before the debut on the track, will bear fruit.

“In Valencia we also started to get to know the new Bridgestone tyres’ behaviour, also related to the petrol load. But the data is still absolutely relative: this track is not particularly demanding on the tyres and the temperatures weren’t the ones we’ll have for example during the season’s first three races.”

The other aspect that has left Domenicali happy is the way that Massa and Alonso got down to work with the team.

“They were both very happy with how things went. Especially regarding the car’s reliability. They are both extremely motivated and have a great desire to drive: it would have been frustrating if we hadn’t started on the right track here. Both Felipe and Fernando know that we have to work a lot and they already gave many indications where we have to improve the car.”

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