Scuderia Ferrari’s third day of testing, the first with Fernando Alonso at the wheel of the F2012, was very similar to the previous two: a lot of work on data acquisition relating to the behaviour of the car, while not taking much notice of the times. It’s the route the team has to follow as it works on polishing up as quickly as possible a car that is radically different to last year’s, both in terms of its overall philosophy and in some specific components. Therefore there is no reason to create any drama around a time sheet on which the Prancing Horse drivers seem a long way off the pace of the top runners – today the gap hovered around the 3” mark. Fastest in fact was Rosberg (1.17.613 in the 2011 Mercedes,) while Fernando was seventh in a time of 1.20.413.

This approach was underlined by Technical Director Pat Fry when he met the press immediately after the end of the session. “There’s no reason for us to take the fuel out and try and do a quick time to make headlines in the newspapers,” said the English engineer. ...