The sandstorms stayed away, and the drivers took to the track - a successful day's testing for all concerned in Bahrain today. Over the course of the session, the three drivers completed over 2100 km, while BMW Sauber's Christian Klien clocked the day's fastest time, a 1m32.544s, half a second quicker than the fastest lap in last year's Bahrain Grand Prix.

BMW Sauber-BMW
Driver: Christian Klien (1st, 1:32.544, 131 laps)
Klien was on duty for his second day, having tested on Friday, and spent his time on-track focusing on the F1.09's mechanical and aero set-up as well as trying the different tyre compounds available. His day ended by practicing starts off the grid, and the Austrian is due to had over to race driver Nick Heidfeld tomorrow.

Christian Klien: “Today was a very productive day. We collected a lot of data and I even did a long run at the end of the session. Again we didn't have a single technical problem, which is very encouraging.”

Ferrari
Driver: Kimi Räikkönen (2nd, 1:32.804, 116 laps)
Kimi Räikkönen was back on-track for another day's work at the wheel of the Ferrari F60, today working on assessing different set-up configurations, on a comparison of the different types of tyre available. He also concentrated on long runs and overall reliability, and also ended the day with a few practice starts from the grid. The Finn is back in action tomorrow.

Kimi Räikkönen: “It was a very intense day. We tried to make up the time we lost last week, although in the morning we had some minor problems which slowed us down a bit. I'm satisfied with how things went. The car reacts very well to our set ups and confirms to deliver a constant performance on the long run. Let's hope the weather remains like this so we can drive many more kilometres until the end of this session.”

Toyota
Driver: Jarno Trulli (3rd, 1:33.064, 141 laps)
Mechanical and aero set-up was also on the agenda at Toyota, with Jarno Trulli continuing at the helm. The Italian driver completed a massive 141 laps in the TF109, while also working on tyre comparisons with the super-soft, soft and medium compound slicks. Jarno stays on duty tomorrow.

Jarno Trulli: “We made it through way more than two race distances today - in fact I think this is my personal best for mileage at a test day! So I'd say this was a positive and productive day. There were a lot of items to test on a full programme and we got through everything. We made good progress and we were consistently competitive all day long. This has been a good start to our second week here.”

Pascal Vasselon (Senior General Manager Chassis): “Today was obviously a very good test session which allows us further to recover from the two days we lost to the sandstorm last week. We ran without any problems and we achieved an impressive mileage of more than 750km. Jarno completed a lot of runs which allowed us to work through many items of mechanical set-up, aerodynamic set-up and tyre compound comparisons. Everything is working to plan at the moment, the car seems quick and reliable so all in all a positive day in preparation for the race season.”

Testing continues in Sakhir on Tuesday, for the second day of what is scheduled to be a four-day test.

Unofficial times from Sakhir (16/02/2009):
1. Christian Klien (BMW Sauber-BMW) - 1:32.544, 131 laps
2. Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) - 1:32.804, 116 laps
3. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) - 1:33.064, 141 laps