Plenty of testing for Ferrari on a soaked Friday
A marvelous start for the Scuderia on a wet Friday, as Fernando Alonso topped the timesheets in both free practice sessions. And even though a wet track doesn't give a clear impression of the real pace, the team is still hoping to improve and understand all of the new components.
Fernando Alonso: “The impression one gets on Friday does not always get confirmed on Saturday and Sunday, therefore we have to evaluate today’s results with a lot of care. Having said that, it has definitely been a positive day, because the car seems to respond well in all track conditions that we encountered today.
The times count for little, or nothing at all, because when the track changes so quickly, times can improve or get worse by two or three seconds depending on the moment when you are out on the circuit. I think the weather will play a key part, both tomorrow and on Sunday: anything could happen. We tried to test all the new components we have here.
If the track was to be dry tomorrow, then we must try and improve our set-up, because obviously it is not yet at its best for these conditions, given that we only had a few minutes to test on slick tyres. In fact, I felt the car was a bit nervous, while in the wet it was easier to drive. When thinking about going for pole position, first of all we will have to see what the weather is doing: for sure if it was to rain we will go out immediately because you always learn from bad experiences…”
Felipe Massa: “I am very happy to be back racing at this track, having been forced to miss it last year: I love driving here. From what we could understand on a day like this, the car seems reasonably competitive and that was particularly true on the rain tyres. However, it is only Friday, so we will have to wait to see how the Red Bulls go, given that so far they have proved to be the quickest cars, as demonstrated in qualifying.
We had so many things to test today, which explains a few slow laps this afternoon. On the intermediate tyres I immediately had good grip, but even on slicks the situation was not that bad. On the final lap, the only one on the soft tyres, I made a mistake, but the car felt good: obviously there is room for improvement and that is what we will try and achieve tomorrow.”
Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal:"Given the way things went in both sessions it is really difficult to give a correct evaluation of the situation, that is the main reason that one must be very cautious in terms of drawing any conclusions from the two sessions. From the little that was possible to understand, there are some teams that seem more competitive than previously, which could create some surprises in the first five rows of the grid.
We tried to work through all our planned programme, which included evaluating some new aerodynamic components. Looking to the rest of the weekend, we can say that, as ever at this track, uncertainty over the weather could play a significant role. Finally, I take this opportunity to add, on behalf of the entire Scuderia, our congratulations to those of President Montezemolo, to our former driver, Rubens Barrichello on the occasion of his three hundredth Grand Prix participation, which is a truly significant and important milestone.”
Chris Dyer, Chief race engineer: “It was quite a complicated day because the weather evolved continuously. On top of that came the red flag in the final part, which considerably reduced the amount of time we could run in the dry. Both drivers were reasonably pleased with the handling of the F10 in the differing conditions encountered today, which is definitely positive.
We had various new components to test, but clearly, with track conditions changing all the time, it is harder to make a correct assessment: we will have to study the available data carefully in order to draw the right conclusions. The forecast is predicting the chance of rain for both qualifying and the race: we will have to think calmly about whether to go for a set-up that veers more towards a wet track or if it is better to opt for a more dry oriented configuration.”
