Ferrari woes

Ferrari's Felipe Massa was an early trackside casualty on Friday morning as day two of the marathon Bahrain test got underway. The Brazilian was observed checking out the problem, believed to be transmission trouble, at the rear of his 'F2007' as he awaited a lift back to the pits at the Sakhir track.

His glitch coincided with news from Europe that long time Ferrari man Nigel Stepney has asked to step into a lesser role for the 2007 season. Unhappy with the recent reshuffle that saw some of his colleagues promoted following the sabbatical of Ross Brawn, the Englishman will now see out the last year of his current contract responsible for Team Performance Development. He will not travel to the races. Previously, Stepney was race and test technical manager, and in the Race Operations Manager role he will be replaced by David Lloyd.