Chinese Free practice

[Nova]

THat would depend on the tire strategy...we had good race pace as long as the tires lasted..
so good race pace plus some good calls from the wall and mabey a tad quicker pitstops, we
may do ok....realistically, a podium would be nice and a lift for the team.

[Hombre B]

New Front Wing:

































New things:

[scuderiafan]

Well we dont know if Plan A did work, as Alonso was pretty much crippled in FP today. They may try it tomorrow and make a decision then.

Heres the FIA press conference, with Aldo Costa.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin...1/4/11940.html

[Nova]

Great pix...extra cooling for the brakes?? Looks funny yellow..

[impactX]

Newey is probably looking at our wings and going "wth lol" right now...

[scuderiafan]

Maybe Aldo is looking at RedBulls KERS and going wth lol

[ferrari4life]

Ferrari going green...yah for the tree huggers

[impactX]

Maybe Aldo is looking at RedBulls KERS and going wth lol

The first, the last and the only time KERS won us a race was Spa 09.

[scuderiafan]

It did win us a race, though. And our KERS is the only one ive heard of that hasn't had a problem yet (touches wood)

[impactX]

RBR won twice this year without it. With the speed that car has, they don't even need it.

[FerrariF60]

It did win us a race, though. And our KERS is the only one ive heard of that hasn't had a problem yet (touches wood)

too bad the hydraulic problems keep hindering us...well Alonso

[scuderiafan]

too bad the hydraulic problems keep hindering us...well Alonso

true. But i have a feeling that we will have a good race. this track has been good to us, and Saturday practise may show us if the new wing gives us a boost.

And impact, with us and Renault closing in, and when McLaren actually bring an update that works on the car, they will need it. so ig uess it is damage limitation for all the teams until then.

[FerrariF60]

RBR won twice this year without it. With the speed that car has, they don't even need it.

yeah, the only reason they have it is to use it as ballast, to bring their car up to 640Kg minimum weight
sad but TRUE, their car is BLINDINGLY FAST

[FerrariF60]

And impact, with us and Renault closing in, and when McLaren actually bring an update that works on the car, they will need it. so ig uess it is damage limitation for all the teams until then.

i'm banking on the PLAN B we're gonna have for turkey which will include the famous flexi wing a la red fools.
Hopefully that big upgrade brings us at least ONE second, otherwise It’s gonna be a LONG season for us as we all know it.

But I’m still optimistic, I have faith on our RED team.

[scuderiafan]

i'm banking on the PLAN B we're gonna have for turkey which will include the famous flexi wing a la red fools.
Hopefully that big upgrade brings us at least ONE second, otherwise It’s gonna be a LONG season for us as we all know it.

But I’m still optimistic, I have faith on our RED team.

Yeah, but i had a look at the runs Button and Felipe did and on the same tyre, Felipe was faster than Button. Hamilton only did a run on the prime, so his run was even slower than Buttons.

I think if we can get a car on the second row, and have a good start, then we may be on for a double podium.

[FerrariF60]

Yeah, but i had a look at the runs Button and Felipe did and on the same tyre, Felipe was faster than Button. Hamilton only did a run on the prime, so his run was even slower than Buttons.

I think if we can get a car on the second row, and have a good start, then we may be on for a double podium.

i hope you're right, you obviously seem more optimistic then i am...although like i said, i have faith in our people to DELIVER when needed.

[Grillo]

Reading what Aldo Costa said it seems our winter testing with all that mileage was kind of a waste of time.

[scuderiafan]

i hope you're right, you obviously seem more optimistic then i am...although like i said, i have faith in our people to DELIVER when needed.

I guess i have always been optimistic, especially since i wtnesses 2007, and 2010.

Yeah, Grillo. Seems like they just said go and just drive the car, and then just relaxed.

I am completely sure that we will catch RedBull though. And McLaren. their car car has been developed for 3 years, while McLaren have had a new concept pretty much every year.

And our car is normally adaptable, so i'm thinking upgrades will help performance more for us and Mac rather than rb. But we really should have done more in the winter, and not just mindlessly test the car.

[Grillo]

And our car is normally adaptable, so i'm thinking upgrades will help performance more for us and Mac rather than rb. But we really should have done more in the winter, and not just mindlessly test the car.

Yep. I was surprised when they were all talking during winter testing about making the F150º a solid car and blah, blah, blah...

FFS!!! Realiability is a given these days, you can only win a title with a fast car, even if you get a couple of DNFs a year that's what you need to become champion. I think they're going to revert the situation but the aim in winter testing should never again be other than to have the fastest car.

[scuderiafan]

Yeah, especially now that we have a good base in terms of reliability, a fast car has to be the aim. personally, though. i think the McLarens are ripe for the picking, and Renault's upgrades have either been delayed, or trashed by Heidfeld, so this could be a good weekend for us.

[luicchi]

My friends, so even if you think Fernando is very slow with this update? An update is to improve the car and not to worsen it. Let me tell you one thing, Fernando tomorrow will put us open-mouthed. Saw what he said about the tires?? believe because at Ferrari, anything is possible ...
It is certain that we are one step ahead!

[R Ginart]

luicchi, I hope you are right, we are not looking too good right now though.

[Hornet]

My friends, so even if you think Fernando is very slow with this update? An update is to improve the car and not to worsen it. Let me tell you one thing, Fernando tomorrow will put us open-mouthed. Saw what he said about the tires?? believe because at Ferrari, anything is possible ...
It is certain that we are one step ahead!

Yeah, we certainly haven't seen everything yet, as the hydraulic issue has prevented any running for Alonso today.

I'm glad Massa got his share of running, but I'm sure the team had plan to utilize both drivers to test everything and we've lost almost half of that for FP2

Hopefully we can get things together by FP3 tomorrow

[Alonsomaniac]

Maybe everyone has already read this, but this is one I liked today:

Fernando Alonso: "We can't really fight for the win here, but that does not mean we won't try!"

[Ferrarichamp]

so what is the best Alonso can hope for under normal circumstances, P2? in that case I hope Felipe can get P3. We need points for WCC.

[scuderiafan]

imo we can fight anyone bar Vettel.

heres a graph of FP2 times. As you can see, Felipe is only slower than the RBs and pretty consistenr compared to Webber



EDIT: that only icludes their long runs

[Alonsomaniac]

so what is the best Alonso can hope for under normal circumstances, P2? in that case I hope Felipe can get P3. We need points for WCC.

Under normal circumstances I don't think Fernando can hope for P2 (although you never know what he can do on a perfect day). What we need now is a combination of strong performance of both drivers and some bad luck for our opponents to keep in touch with the top. That will give Ferrari some time, and time is what we need right now - time to improve the car.

I also think everyone should stop with talking negative about Felipe. Felipe and Fernando seem to be working perfectly together in trying to help the team forward. This rather unique combination of two drivers getting along that well an their ability to work together on the same goal is very important for Ferrari at the moment.
It could be a bad decision to replace Felipe next year - especially now when it seems he is getting back to form.

[Ferrarichamp]

should Ferrari take a gamble with the strategy? maybe a 1 stop as Pirelli have suggested. Ferrari have been accused of being too conservative.

[Grillo]

should Ferrari take a gamble with the strategy? maybe a 1 stop as Pirelli have suggested. Ferrari have been accused of being too conservative.

It all depends on what both drivers can achieve on FP3, Q1 and Q2. It might be an opportunity to start on the harder compound if we can make it last and is not much slower than the softer.

I think both Alonso and Massa ared driving quite well but they're not lucky.

[bkircher]

Its interesting to see that Ferrari did not use the new wing in the second practice session, or if they did, I missed it. I wonder why. Usually it seems like when they bring something new, they test it then if it works they stick to it.