Michael Schumacher remains confident he can put in a strong performance at this weekend's French Grand Prix.
The German has closed the gap on leader Fernando Alonso after picking up 18 points in the last two Grands Prix, including a win in the US race.
"This has been a productive day and I am quite happy with what we have achieved," said the German after Friday's practice session.
"The car and tyres are behaving well and I think we can fight for the win."
Schumacher admitted he was happy with his team's overall performance at Magny-Cours.
"The team has worked very hard over the past weeks and even months and it seems that all this work is beginning to pay off now," he said.
Meanwhile, Ferrari's tyre supplier Bridgestone says the Italian team may have sacrificed better results this year because of their emphasis on caution rather than speed.
"Our company is always concerned about safety first," said Bridgestone General Manager Hiroshi Yasukawa.
"Then afterwards, we discuss with the teams, and we choose different compounds or constructions or whatever."
Bridgestone's thoughts were echoed by Ferrari team boss Jean Todt who believes the philosophy will pay off.
"This year that we had to stop because we simply could not finish the race, like with Rubens (Barrichello) in Bahrain and Michael (Schumacher) in Barcelona," he said.
"We learned from that and the tyres we took in Nurburgring, for example, were definitely a compromise. They were not the quickest tyres, but we knew we could finish the race."
MMIX
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