Ferrari F1 News

The Formula 1 specialist media are still interested in what they see as Felipe Massa’s “miraculous” upturn in form which dates back to the mid-point of last season and which, in Melbourne last weekend, delivered a strong fourth place for the Brazilian. Naturally, the man himself sees things in far more simple terms. “The car is for sure much better and we have already showed throughout the Australian weekend, practice, qualifying and the race, that it is more competitive than last year,” began Felipe, when facing the media in the Sepang paddock this afternoon. “The car is ten times better and I feel happy and more comfortable than I did at this time last year, when I struggled to understand the car. This year I can be much more consistent and the car is easier to drive, which is pretty good for the team and also for me.”

Even if the Scuderia tops the points in the Constructors’ classification, Felipe is too experienced a competitor to be lulled into a false sense of security. “Remember, in qualifying we were one second slower, but track conditions were not consistent, so it is hard to judge where we really are,” ...

The pace of life in Formula 1 is relentless and just a couple of days after packing away the two F138 cars and all the equipment required to run them, Scuderia Ferrari is already hard at work at the Sepang circuit on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, preparing for the second round of the World Championship, the Malaysian Grand Prix. A positive, if hot and sticky atmosphere reigns in the garage, because thanks to a second placed Melbourne podium for Fernando Alonso and a fourth place for team-mate Felipe Massa, the team heads the first published Constructors’ classification of 2013. In fact, the two Ferrari men made the journey from Melbourne to Malaysia together on Tuesday and are now acclimatising to the torrid climate that will characterise this second round of the World Championship, with some physical training. “The first Grand Prix weekend of the season in Australia was a positive one for us as we had previously stated that our objective was to finish on the podium and that target was achieved,” confirms Team Principal Stefano Domenicali.
...

At last, a start that lived up to expectations. After some less than favourable debuts at the Australian Grand Prix, a second place for Fernando Alonso and a fourth for Felipe Massa means this championship has got off to a positive start, even if the season looks like being more closely contested than ever. It was a very intense weekend for everyone, including the engineers, mechanics and drivers, with the chaos caused by the rain, and the long time spent waiting in the pits, before the stewards made the right decision, the only one they could have taken, to postpone qualifying to Sunday morning prior to the race. A cool head was called for, firstly on Saturday to deal with the hostile weather and the very difficult track conditions in the first part of qualifying and then on Sunday, when once again, the team was faced with the task of making the right tyre choices for Q2 and Q3 on a track that was constantly changing. Then in the race came the need to manage the traffic, the tyre degradation, the strategy and the many pit stops, which all went to make the first Grand Prix of the year extremely absorbing.
...

Ferrari leads the Constructors’ World Championship after the opening round. That statement alone is enough to generate a sigh of relief from Prancing Horse fans around the world. After testing, the stated first objective was for Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa to be given a much more competitive car than last year and this evening, the F138, although not the quickest, delivered on that promise. Kimi Raikkonen won the race, running an impressive two stop strategy in the Lotus, with Fernando joining him on the podium in second place, in front of Sebastian Vettel, who finished third for Red Bull, having started from pole. The reason the Scuderia heads the Constructors’ table is that Felipe Massa rounded off the weekend with a strong drive to fourth place.

After a dry and sunny spell in the middle of the day, the clouds were again menacing Albert Park as the cars set off on their formation lap. The two F138s were on the Supersoft Pirelli, like all the top ten qualifiers, so early pit stops were predicted. ...

That’s it, the first day of the 2013 Formula 1 season has now been and gone. At the end of the first three hours of free practice, despite track conditions that were very different to those encountered in the twelve days of testing in Spain, there were no major surprises on the Melbourne circuit. For Scuderia Ferrari, it was a busy day, with a long job list to get through – the same for all the teams in fact. Friday in Australia provided the first opportunity to evaluate the Pirelli tyres in operating temperatures that are more or less the norm for the coming season.

As expected, the degradation problems encountered in the cold in Barcelona were less of an issue in the warmer Australian autumn. Between them, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa completed a round century of laps, 51 for the Spaniard and 49 for the Brazilian, with the F138 running trouble-free throughout the day, apart from a minor KERS problem for Felipe this afternoon, which did not stop him getting through his programme.
...