Ferrari duo frustrated by tricky conditions

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Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were left frustrated by tricky conditions in practice at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalyna on Friday.

A lack of grip on track combined with gusting crosswinds made it a difficult day for everyone. Several drivers had off-track excursions during the afternoon session, including Vettel

"Everyone was struggling due to the conditions," he said afterwards. "Today was quite a shocker if you look at the long runs.

"[I was] struggling a bit to find the rhythm and struggling with the conditions. A bit more myself than the car," he admitted. "I didn't get everything together, so I wasn't too happy.

"I didn't feel as if I was always captain on board," he explained. "Sometimes somebody else was steering my ship. But I hope tomorrow, whoever that was, they disappear.

"I can feel the car is quick so I am not worried, just not happy with how the day went," he continued. "By Sunday things calm down, the track picks up and we should be all right. But there could be some windows for strategy."

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Raikkonen had similar thoughts about the conditions after finishing the day slightly faster than his Ferrari team mate.

"It was a difficult day. the conditions were very tricky, especially at the end. But it's the same for everyone," he said.

"It's pretty normal from testing that the circuit feels very good and when we come in the summer it's more slippery and tricky.

"It was not an easy day but we kept trying things and we'll see if they come off tomorrow."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.