Alonso warns Red Bull: Ferrari's closing in fast

**vcs316** · 8th March 2013, 04:28

Ferrari ace Fernando Alonso says triple world champion team Red Bull should be able to win next week's season-opening Australian Grand Prix, even if it lines up with last year's car.

But the Spaniard, who missed out on the 2012 drivers' title to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel by just three points, is confident Ferrari will be the closest contender.
Alonso says little should be read into results from the recent testing in Spain, where several teams topped the daily fastest times.

''You don't go to a training camp to see if Barca is going to win on Sunday, or watch [Novak] Djokovic and [Rafael] Nadal warm up to know the winner,'' he told Spain's El Pais newspaper. ''The first four or five races will be a surprise for everyone.''

But one thing that will not surprise him is if Ferrari is on the podium at the Australian GP.
''McLaren, Lotus will be there,'' he said. ''And Mercedes, who have worked on this car since the middle of last season, have improved. But it would be a major surprise if Red Bull is not in front of everyone. ''They should be able to win in Australia even with the car of [last year's season-ending race in] Brazil.''

Red Bull topped just one day of the pre-season testing at Catalunya in Spain, but most of the team's rivals are convinced it is bluffing, an annual and predictable part of testing.

Mark Webber said after he was quickest during a slippery session that his team was at least on track in preparations for Melbourne.
Just days before last year's race, the Australian said Red Bull was months behind in its 2012 development program. Vettel complained early in Barcelona that the trials proved the team needed to work more to uncover the new car's potential. He then proceeded to contradict himself by saying it was too hard to get a read on performance due to a lack of understanding of the tyre characteristics.

Asked if Red Bull was set to leave the opposition trailing behind on the Albert Park circuit, Webber said: ''Of course not. That hasn't happened for a long time. Once the season gets going, then you have a bit of a trend. But early in the year it's anyone's game.''

He named Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus and Mercedes as the likely front-runners.

Lotus has been performing solidly and the team says it is on track. Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen was impressively consistent in his first year back after a break, winning a race and bagging a clutch of podiums.

And Mercedes' Nico Rosberg opened some eyes at Catalunya with stunning pace. With his boyhood go-kart racing friend Lewis Hamilton as his new teammate, the German will be even more competitive, while the super-quick Hamilton brings a new dynamic to the team.

But it is Alonso who has been the most outwardly upbeat.
''We can't forget that late last year we were seven- or eight-tenths [of a second] behind the competition, so we will not be the fastest, but we will not be 1.6 seconds behind, as we were in Australia last year,'' he said. ''We are faster. The base is infinitely better. I need a faster car to win, but two tenths [slower than the best] is enough.''

AAP

**radosav** · 8th March 2013, 07:48

So where is the warning ?!?
I don't this kind of article titles where they say Ferrari/Felipe/Fernando/Fry warning their rivals just because they say normal real stuff that every driver or team member say. When someone from Ferrari does this then their words become threats or warnings!

**SinanOzerS** · 8th March 2013, 08:00

That's an old news.Nearly 4-5 days ago.

**wisepie** · 8th March 2013, 09:43

It's all smoke and mirrors.....great that Fernando has the confidence to make this sort of statement, but there are too many variable factors involved to make a definitive projection of who will be on the podioum in Melbourne, much as we want to believe him.

**Alessandra** · 8th March 2013, 11:14

I don't think too much should be read into Red Bull's uncharacteristic reticence in testing. I'd be very, very surprised if they weren't up the top again in Melbourne.
Sadly.

**FrankAlfa** · 8th March 2013, 12:06

My feelings are that if Red Bull can not exploit the Renault engine to cheat and break the rules to "Blow" the diffuser through special, BANNED engine mapping which they are trying to get approval from the FIA, they WILL suffer! The FIA has allowed the Red Bull team to CHEAT for a very long time now to "Spice Things Up" but people are getting tired of this!

Ciao,

Forza Ferrari!!!!

**mirafiori** · 8th March 2013, 13:43

Originally Posted by FrankAlfa

My feelings are that if Red Bull can not exploit the Renault engine to cheat and break the rules to "Blow" the diffuser through special, BANNED engine mapping which they are trying to get approval from the FIA, they WILL suffer! The FIA has allowed the Red Bull team to CHEAT for a very long time now to "Spice Things Up" but people are getting tired of this!

Ciao,

Forza Ferrari!!!!

You are 100 per cent correct my friend, lets hope the FIA stop the Renault engine teams cheating.

**Massimo** · 8th March 2013, 13:45

Originally Posted by FrankAlfa

My feelings are that if Red Bull can not exploit the Renault engine to cheat and break the rules to "Blow" the diffuser through special, BANNED engine mapping which they are trying to get approval from the FIA, they WILL suffer! The FIA has allowed the Red Bull team to CHEAT for a very long time now to "Spice Things Up" but people are getting tired of this!

Ciao,

Forza Ferrari!!!!

I with you on this one Frank, i think the engine mapping is hurting the Renault engine teams more than they want us to believe.
Last year Red Bull asked the FIA for several dispensations , but after they(FIA) went along with the "reliability" issues argument which caused more controversy than FIA would've liked, most of Red Bull's requests were denied.
This year in stead of Red Bull, Renault is lobbying for dispensation because of once again reliability issues, why? Because a successful engine manufacturer has more power than a single team i guess, but they need an approval from Ferrari and Mercedes to use the engine map they want, so i know the answer to that one

One more thing, Adrian Newey wasn't present in Barcelona the entire last week of testing, that's a bit strange for a chief technical officer, don't you think?
What's the matter Adrian, got some redesigning to do?

**PURE PASSION** · 8th March 2013, 13:49

Red Bull bosses really worried or putting on Oscar award winning act?

The faces of Red Bull chiefs became notably worried as the Formula 1 winter pre-season period wrapped up recently in Spain, claims Marc Surer, a former Formula 1 driver turned German-language commentator.

Indeed, as the final test week concluded in Barcelona, Mercedes sped to the top of the time sheets, whilst Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel languished two seconds too slow.

“The faces of the (Red Bull) bosses looked worried,” Surer said in an interview with T-Online. ”They were missing two seconds to Mercedes, and that’s a lot, even if Vettel was carrying a lot of fuel. They seemed surprised by how quickly Ferrari but especially Mercedes could go.”

So why the sudden problem for Red Bull?

Throughout the test period, every driver and pundit in the paddock was predicting another strong season for the reigning champions, particularly with the rules remaining basically the same as in 2012.

“Red Bull was holding back the newest parts, so that the competition could not copy them,” Surer explained. ”But they didn’t work; the car didn’t become faster.”

Another possibility is that Red Bull’s game of bluff is working just as planned.

Niki Lauda, Mercedes shareholder and chairman, told the German broadcaster RTL: “I am delighted that we showed at the last test that we are quick.

“But I also know that the value of testing is extremely limited, because we do not know whether and to what extent the other teams have been bluffing.”

So yet another possibility is that Red Bull’s formerly struggling rivals have simply caught up.

“Everyone is closer together because there have been no rule changes,” said Lauda. ”So if you had a slow car, you try to catch up, while if you are Red Bull, you have more difficulty to develop your car because you were already at the top.

“We have a good car, no doubt,” the famous Austrian told Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper. ”But to know where we are compared to Red Bull, we need to wait for the first race.”

http://www.yallaf1.com/2013/03/08/re...d-winning-act/

**Kingdom Hearts** · 8th March 2013, 15:18

Originally Posted by radosav

So where is the warning ?!?
I don't this kind of article titles where they say Ferrari/Felipe/Fernando/Fry warning their rivals just because they say normal real stuff that every driver or team member say. When someone from Ferrari does this then their words become threats or warnings!

There is no warining, just the media being idiots, expect more of this if we have a winning car.

**sagi58** · 8th March 2013, 15:25

Originally Posted by Kingdom Hearts

There is no warining, just the media being idiots, expect more of this if we have a winning car.

They'll all be...

**Jose Lorca** · 8th March 2013, 16:32

Originally Posted by PURE PASSION

Red Bull bosses really worried or putting on Oscar award winning act?

http://www.yallaf1.com/2013/03/08/re...d-winning-act/

There was an article from AMuS recently which also mentioned worried faces in the Red Bull garage. They also said that Newey didn't even show up for the final test which they took as a sign that he wasn't happy with the performance of the RB9.

**mirafiori** · 8th March 2013, 16:57

One week today we will know more, and hopefully those worried faces in the Red Bull garage will continue. And it will be our turn to send them a Christmas card.

**tpe** · 8th March 2013, 17:10

Either Newey is warried, or, the simulation tools of Red Bull are that good.

**Tifoso** · 8th March 2013, 17:20

Shut up and drive (develop).

**Hermann** · 9th March 2013, 10:10

First Fernando 'warned rivals', now he 'warns' RB? What is this, national 'lets create more stupid headlines' day? I thought it was Women's day

Shut up and drive (develop)

I bet Fernando would love to, its not like he is begging for interviews. But he has to feed the national press demands, its part of the job, as you might know.