Alonso: “A good start for the F150”

[Rob]

”2.1.2011

Cheste, 1st February – To finish first, first you have to finish. It’s a rule of sport, in particular motor sport where mechanical reliability is behind every result. So if a new car takes its first steps on the track without encountering problems it’s already a good start. Certainly you need performance but before looking for that it’s important to begin to understand the car’s behaviour – all the more so if the new creation is wearing new boots. This was the main objective of the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro technicians who today began development work on the F150: to go through lots of miles and to begin to understand the behaviour of the new Pirelli tyres.

There was satisfaction both for the engineers and the driver: “After so many weeks of waiting I had a great desire to return to the car,” said Fernando Alonso at the end of the day. “It’s always a great feeling to be the first to drive a new car and I’m honoured that this was my job. I’m satisfied with how this first day has gone, in particular regarding reliability. We haven’t had any kind of problem – just as we haven’t had any in the factory before arriving here.”

As for the tyres, it’s clear that there is still a lot of work to do. “We don’t have a huge amount of sets of tyres available and there is significant tyre wear,” added the Spanish driver. “That probably also stems from the track conditions that were not at their best after the rain of recent days. But we are all in the same situation and we just have to work to adapt in the best way.”

Fernando continued: “It’s impossible to have an idea of how the different teams line up after just a few hundred kilometres and I don’t think that we will have a clear picture before the Bahrain Grand Prix. I remember that last year at the last test in Barcelona we were sixth fastest with Sauber and Force India ahead of us. At Sakhir we lapped them. I think that this question mark will remain right up to the first race.”

http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formu..._the_F150.aspx

[Grillo]

[Salvador Dali]

Our baby first has to crawl before she can run! And run she will!!!

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Alonso Adjusting To New Technology

Fernando Alonso had a successful first full day in the new Ferrari F150 at Valencia, the Italian team having already shaken the car down at Fiorano last week.

Perhaps helped by that earlier launch, the Ferrari was reliable on a day when both Red Bull and Mercedes suffered, and of the new cars, only Sebastian Vettel was faster with the Red Bull.

However, the Spaniard admitted that there was still a lot to learn about the Pirellis.

“The tire degrades a lot, and they are not very consistent at the moment, and we are very limited in terms of number of tires as well,” he said. “You have to keep one set of tires for the whole morning, and then maybe put one for half of the afternoon and one at the end. It’s difficult to do setup changes and to really get an answer at the moment on those.”

Alonso says he’s quickly gotten used to playing around with KERS and wing buttons, although it’s early. He made some interesting observations on the new technology.

“It’s OK. It’s obviously not the easiest thing to do at the exit of the corners, these new buttons on the steering wheel. We start slowly, we did some practice also in the simulator, so it’s not the first time we had the buttons on the steering.

“But in the morning we started step-by-step, some laps we activate the KERS, some other laps we activate the rear wing, and then we start doing everything at the same time and getting used to it. Now in the afternoon, everything was coming out automatically, so I think it’s good. Tomorrow plus Jerez will be enough to be completely confident on the new things.”

However, he admitted that it was still going to be tricky to keep on top of everything.

“It’s a difficult question," Alonso said. "Obviously it’s not very easy; you lose concentration in your driving line or in your driving style, pure performance, but it’s also something that drivers who get used to the systems, and drivers who are trained more or they are more clever on this, they can have an advantage. So it’s also a challenge for all of us to try to do better than our colleagues.

“We all have our self confidence, we all think that we can do it, and that it also something that can be good with the new buttons. With the new F1, you have to try to get used to it better than the others.”

Asked by SPEED.com how he felt compared with a year ago, when he was a Ferrari new boy, Alonso said: “Yeah, obviously it’s better this year. Last year it was really, really the first test. A lot of excitement, a lot of emotions last year also, because it was the first time in a Ferrari car.

“This year we approach the test in a better way, more relaxed. You know Ferrari, you know all the staff, you know also the program for this test. We have two days; last year I only had one. So it was a lot of things to do in one day. This year we start more in a relaxed way and really focus on the things you have to do. Last year was more like a demo more than work!”

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/artic...ew-technology/

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Mileage the main objective, Alonso insists

Fernando Alonso remains confident following the opening day of winter testing at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit on Tuesday. The Spaniard, who finished fifth quickest and eight tenths of a second off leader Sebastian Vettel, completed more laps than anybody (97) and is defiant that this is the main goal.

“It's okay, it’s feeling good and there’s nothing surprising,” he explained in the paddock.





Alonso lapped the Cheste circuit more times than anybody else today“The biggest priority for this test is to do as much mileage as possible and to learn about the car, so we have lots of data for when we return to Maranello.”

He went on to discuss the return of KERS and 2011’s new adjustable rear wing. “Obviously it's not very easy because if you lose concentration you lose performance,” the Oviedo driver explained, with drivers now even more occupied in their cockpits.

“It's something that drivers who can adapt quickly can use as an advantage, to see if we can do it better than our rivals.”

[Rob]

Alonso: “Happy with the F150”. Tomorrow it’s Massa’s turn2.2.2011


Cheste, 2 February –Fernando Alonso was smiling as he left the “Ricardo Tormo” circuit after the debrief that ended the second day of testing for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro at this track. Indeed, a figure of 800 kilometres completed over the first two days of development for the F150 constitutes a good basis on which to build, in terms of the work over the coming weeks. It shows that things have got off on the right foot, at least in terms of reliability. As for performance, it is obviously much too early to draw any conclusions: Fernando’s 1.13.307 might have been the fastest time of the day, but that does not tell us much given that it is impossible to know what fuel loads and tyres the other drivers were using out on track, as Alonso himself pointed out. “We had three types of tyre available here and there is a significant performance difference between them, in the region of between six and seven tenths on the clock. This means it is too hard to make comparisons between the performance of the various cars.”

“I am happy with the work we did today,” said the Spaniard. “Yesterday we concentrated mainly on the systems on the car, on checking that everything was okay, while on this second day we were able to go deeper into our understanding of its behaviour, even with different fuel loads, making the first changes to the set-up. For example, we tried to deal with the oversteer and to find ways of dealing with tyre degradation over a long distance.”

A few minor hitches linked to carrying out some set-up changes on the car slowed the work programme this morning, but it did not upset the planned programme which was fully completed. “This is totally normal when you start developing a brand new car,” explained Fernando. “From the reliability point of view, this is definitely a good start. The F150 proved to be very strong and we can be happy about that. As to whether we will be competitive, we won’t really know for sure until Bahrain.”

Felipe Massa was a keen observer at the test and tomorrow, it is his turn to get behind the wheel of the F150. In the morning, his team-mate is heading off for Maranello where, the next day, he will be working on the simulator

http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formu...assa_turn.aspx

[Curbs]

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/0...lonso-step-up/

“Zero problems here, zero problems in Fiorano, zero problems on the dyno,” he said. “That’s not normal for a brand new car. I’m really surprised. In the last few years you went into the new car test with caution, you did a couple of laps and then checked everything. Here we went straight out and did 12 laps first time out.”

Alonso did some long runs today, which impressed other teams. This is a similar story to this stage last season, showing that the F150, like its predecessor appears to be kind to its tyres. With wear on the Pirellis still looking quite high, this is an early positive indicator for Ferrari.

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Alonso not making car comparisons yet

Fernando Alonso set the day’s leading time in Valencia on Wednesday, pushing Sebastian Vettel down to second and topping the timesheets for Ferrari for the first time in 2011. However, the former double World Champion insists that no comparisons can or should be made between rivals’ cars at present.

“It's difficult to feel the competitiveness of the car at the moment because in the past there have been lower fuel loads and so it was easier to compare,” the Spaniard explained after the session, “but I feel good, it was a good start for us.

“Today we did more than 100 laps, which was the priority. The moveable rear wing is new, so we are making use of it - it's not so easy to activate and deactivate it before the corners, so they’ll be some time before we get used to it properly.”