Raikkonen maintains Middle Eastern monopoly.

Kimi Raikkonen once more topped the timing screens on the third day of testing at the Sakhir International Circuit, whilst Toyota concluded the first stint of their Middle Eastern adventure on a far brighter note than had been the case on day two.

With both Ferrari race drivers present for the first time during the test, reigning Formula 1 World Champion Raikkonen completed 74 laps en route to a time just over eight tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Felipe Massa, who won the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2007.

Both men worked on general development of the F2008, concentrating on comparisons between different set-ups on the car, and will return to the track on 8 February for a further three-day session.

Toyota, meanwhile, trailed the scarlet machines on the timesheets again, but both drivers reported a more productive day, with none of the mechanical woes that had interrupted Tuesday's work. Jarno Trulli and Kamui Kobayashi focused their efforts on mechanical set-up options and trying out new development items on the TF108, with the latter also practising pit-stops.

"This was a better day for us," reflected Trulli, who completed almost 100 laps on his way to the third-best time, "because we had no technical problems and the weather improved quite a bit.

"We completed a lot of laps, which was important because we had quite a few things to test and we needed to get some information about the different mechanical set-ups. Everything went well and we are making progress, but we still have to push hard to continue this improvement."

"Today was successful," agreed test driver Kobayashi, just over a tenth slower than the Italian in fourth, "and I did all the work we had planned. The weather has improved here since Monday when I last tested, and that made for better track conditions, especially as there was much less wind today.

"This was my last day in the car until Barcelona later this month, so I hope Timo [Glock] and Jarno can continue to find improvement during the rest of our time in Bahrain."

As with Ferrari, Toyota will remain in Bahrain to recommence testing on 8 February, with race drivers Trulli and Glock at the wheel. Senior general chassis manager Pascal Vasselon was upbeat at the end of 'part one' of the test.

"We can be pleased with today's work," the Frenchman stated, "which was mainly focused on mechanical set-up for race conditions. We wanted to investigate several options, and we now have a lot of data to study which will help us. It has been a very useful three days.

"Even if we did not get temperatures in the very high range, we have had very good weather conditions and have been able to test all day long during the three days. The only minor downside is it tends to be a bit windy, but that was better today and all-in-all we have done some good work."