Welcome to F1Minute for the 19th February 2009.

Testing came to a close today in Bahrain, with Ferrari posting the fastest time. They finally managed to get through a day with no serious problems. Meanwhile, Heidfeld was second, although he did have a couple of mechanical issues. The team were working on KERS and confirmed they got as much data as they needed. The biggest problem was saved for Glock in the Toyota though, as a hydraulics fault meant he could only complete 65 laps – about half what the team has achieved every day previously.

Elsewhere, both Australia and Malaysia have confirmed their schedules for the start of the season, with both races starting at 5pm local time. Malaysia went on to say that Bernie can keep wishing for a night race but due to the economic climate, it won’t happen before 2015 at the earliest.

And talking of Bernie, he has said Richard Branson is “exactly the type of person we would want in the sport.” Of course, this has no bearing on whether Virgin are interested in Honda or not, but at least it has Bernie’s seal of approval.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1Minute.