Alonso: 'Ferrari are only 20 percent ready'

Fernando Alonso reckons Ferrari still have a lot of work to do before Melbourne, saying they are only "20 percent" there with their new F2012

Ferrari's first pre-season test got off to a subdued start with the Italian stable failing to match the lap times set by Red Bull, McLaren and even Lotus.

That changed on the final day when Alonso clocked a 1:18.877 to finish Friday's running at the very top of the timesheets and second overall, his time only slower than Romain Grosjean's from Day three.

"It is still early and there is much work still to do to understand the many changes to the car compared to last season," he told Spanish daily AS.

"We are maybe at 20 percent of what we need to know but in the next test we will try to achieve the rest."

The one aspect, though, where Alonso is confident Ferrari have improved and have a great understand is with regard to the Pirelli tyres.

Last season the Italian stable struggled in qualifying as they were not able to get heat into the rubber, especially with the harder compounds.

This year Alonso reckons Ferrari, who hired Bridgestone's former F1 chief Hirohide Hamashim early in January, are on the right road to resolving that issue.

"I think we've managed to make better use of the tyres right from the first lap, which we could not do a year ago," he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"What definitely needs improving is the aerodynamics and the reliability.

"To do only 40 laps in eight hours is a bit little, in Barcelona we must succeed in covering at least a hundred a day."

As for predictions for the upcoming season, the Spaniard said: "Where will I be in Melbourne? No idea but then I really do not know where I am here (Jerez), what position we are in."

Source: Planet-F1

Alonso Ends First Test On A High Note

Fernando Alonso silenced growing concerns about Ferrari's F2012 by finishing the four-day Jerez with the fastest time on the final day

Following the conclusion of Thursday's play at the Spanish circuit, Ferrari's technical director Pat Fry admitted to the world that he was "not happy" with how Ferrari's pre-season was progressing.

According to Fry, while the reliability of the new car is "good" the pace is only "okay" leaving Ferrari with a lot of work to do before the season gets underway in Australia next month.

However, Fry's concerns - at least on the surface - came to naught when Alonso broke the 1:20.000 barrier in the first hour of Friday's running.

The Spaniard went even faster, posting a 1:18.877 during the morning session before heading into the pits prior to lunch with 24 laps under his belt.

For an as yet undisclosed reason, Alonso did just 15 laps in the afternoon - several of which were for practice starts - while his rivals put in the miles. None, though, were able to get close to his P1 time.

Toro Rosso rookie Jean-Eric Vergne came the closest, finishing 0.702s off the pace. However, his time was also set during the morning session.

The fastest man in the afternoon proved to be reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel.

The German completed just two laps in the morning as "an electrical issue" with his RB8 took several hours to resolve.

As such, he only ventured out mid-way through the afternoon but that did not stop the Red Bull racer from quickly working his way up the timesheets.

Vettel steadily improved from ninth to eighth to fifth and then third, finishing Friday's running with a 1:19.606, which was 0.729s off the pace.

Lewis Hamilton, who had a trouble-free day with almost 90 laps to his name, was fourth quickest, a further 0.034s slower than Vettel while Romain Grosjean was fifth in his Lotus E20.

Kamui Kobayashi brought his car home in sixth place, just under a second behind Alonso's P1 time. However, his day was not without problems as the Sauber driver was responsible for one of four red flags when his C31 came to a halt due to a hydraulic problem.

A solid day for Force India's Nico Hulkenberg, who lost valuable track-time on Thursday after Jules Bianchi crashed his car, finished with the German eighth quickest with 90 laps.

Meanwhile, Bruno Senna, who was the busiest driver on the final day, put in some consistent runs as he covered a marathon 125 laps. The Williams's racer, though, brought out the red flags on two occasions.

The first was in the morning when, after 97 laps, he stopped out on track while the second, late in the afternoon, came at Turn Two. The day's first red flag stoppage was in order to allow a marshal to clear a piece of debris off the track.

Jarno Trulli completed the timesheets for Caterham with 117 laps and 3.321s off the pace.

Unofficial Times
01 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:18.877 39 laps
02 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:19.597 0.720 80 laps
03 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:19.606 0.729 50 laps
04 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:19.640 0.763 86 laps
05 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:19.729 0.852 95 laps
06 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:19.834 0.957 76 laps
07 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:19.977 1.100 90 laps
08 Bruno Senna Williams 1:20.132 1.255 125 laps
09 Jarno Trulli Caterham 1:22.198 3.321 117 laps

Source: Planet-F1

Massa: “A lot of work ahead of us, but the F2012 shows plenty of potential”

Jerez de la Frontera, 8 February – Felipe Massa has seen so much in his life that these two days of testing that apparently have not exactly been up to much, at least if you look at the time sheets, are not enough to scare him. Today, like yesterday, Felipe is a long way off the top of the times, seventh, 1”893 off Michael Schumacher who was fastest today. But it was not enough to wipe away his trademark smile.

“These two days have been different to usual, at least compared to what we’ve been used to at the start of previous years,” explained the Brazilian when he met with journalists. “This car is packed with elements that need plenty of fine tuning and they are different to what we had on previous cars. We concentrated on setting up a lot of specific points and there is still a lot to do: as usual, some things work the way they should, others less so. For example, I did a lot of laps at constant speed to gather information on the aerodynamics and on the general handling, because we need to be sure of the direction in which we need to go on the development front.”

Some aspects have been positive, as Felipe explained: “We made some set-up changes from yesterday to today and the results this produced were what we had expected. It’s important that this happened, as it means the car is reacting in the right way. Obviously, there is still a lot to do, maybe more than we had expected before we started, but we are definitely not scared of hard work!

“I think the F2012 could well suit my driving style better than the previous car: for example, there is much less understeer,” continued Felipe. “It’s only a case of working on it calmly and with concentration and that’s what we will continue to do over the next few days when Fernando drives. I think this car has great potential, also taking into account the point we are at now. Is this the ugliest Ferrari I’ve ever driven? I don’t know, as from the cockpit you can’t see the front wing and therefore not the step either: but definitely from the outside, it’s not the prettiest…”

Source: Ferrari.com

Ferrari launch 'aggressive' F2012

In another dramatic sign of the times, Ferrari have launched their radical 2012 charger - the F2012

Though hailed as an 'aggressive' car, attention is bound to be focused on another, rather ugly, 'boxer's nose' and radical front-end design.

Having been forced by snowy weather to cancel their plan to launch their new car in front of an invited audience, Ferrari instead took the wraps off online, with the 'Scuderia Ferrari 2012 single-seater' unveiled on the team's website.

"We know the future of the company depends on what we do here today," said team boss Stefano Domenicali. No pressure then.

The car was unveiled by drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa and, according to first impressions, is far closer in look to the Caterham CT01 than the relatively-conventional McLaren.

"This is something that was part of my dreams, I really trust the team and the new car," said Massa. "It looks really, really aggressive."

That's one way of putting it.

The car's most distinctive feature is another 'boxer's nose', with the car a radical departure from Ferrari's designs of the recent past. It can't, however, be described as a pretty car. With the sharply-stepped nose, in layman's terms, perched on front-wing tusks, it is certainly an attention-grabbing challenger, however.

Looking ahead to the new season, Alonso remarked: "We have to be resolute and positive for the season ahead. We have to fight for the title."

Meanwhile, speaking on a weblink, Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo repeated his demand for the under-pressure Massa, who has just a single year remaining on his contract, to improve his performances this season.

"He knows as much as we know that he has to do something great, something better after a not-so-positive season," announced the typically-forthright di Montezemolo. "We are offering him the best conditions to do a great job."

Yet, for the timebeing at least, it's the team's new car that is the centre of attention at Maranello. With the unveiling endorsing reports last week in Italy that Ferrari's latest creation was not a looker, the team will be hoping that beauty is no barometer of speed.

"I am sure our car will be winning right from the beginning," declared Stefano Domenicali in confident fashion. "We have learned many lessons from the past, and taken some difficult decisions. But I am sure all our efforts will be represented with this car.

"From a technical point of view, we have many novelties in terms of mechanics and also the shape of the car. We wanted continuity here, and hopefully we will reach the right performance."

Now for the hard work - with the car set to be put through its pace for the first time in Jerez next week.

"We have only 12 days to work on the car and achieve reliability, and also test the new tyres that have been given to us by Pirelli," added Domenicali.

Source: SkySports