A flood of new developments for Ferrari in Valencia

On the evening of the Canadian Grand Prix, marked by Ferrari’s race strategy failure that denied Fernando Alonso a potential podium finish, the Spaniard assured that for the first time this season, Ferrari hadn’t raced defensively. Indeed, after delivering a poorly performing car, the Maranello team decided to approach the start of the 2012 season by minimizing damage while waiting for better days, expected with Formula One’s return to Europe with the Mugello tests and the Spanish Grand Prix. Sometimes well-aided by circumstances, the Scuderia more than minimized damage, allowing Fernando Alonso to remain in contact with the championship leaders. Since then, the Asturias Ace has twice reached the podium, in Barcelona and Monaco, and could have done so again in Montreal if not for a strategically risky bet deemed impossible. But the native of Oviedo isn’t the only one who can attest to the Scuderia’s resurgence, as Felipe Massa, who struggled at the start of the season, qualified twice in Q3 in the last two races, finishing in the points each time.

After making numerous updates to its latest model since the beginning of the season, Nikolas Tombazis, designer of the F2012, assures in a video published on Ferrari’s official website that the Scuderia has not decided to slow down the pace of developments, quite the contrary: “We are quite happy with the progress of the F2012, but we continue to work on it: essentially, since the beginning of the season, we have almost completely modified the car. In Canada, we worked a lot on the exhausts, providing a more robust and simple solution. In Valencia, we will conduct other experiments on the front wing, the floor, and still on the exhausts. Later, new rear wings and other deflectors will arrive. To improve our top speed, we are working on the DRS. We have studied the Mercedes system, weighed its advantages and disadvantages, but for now, it is not our priority.”

The Greek engineer from Scuderia Ferrari does not forget, however, that the men from Maranello have come a long way and is pleased with the progress made in just a few months: Before the season started, we thought we would fight for victory at every race, so finding ourselves behind so many teams was a shock. However, we worked calmly, and the last few races have been a great source of motivation for us. Now, we have three objectives: fight for the title, develop the F2012, and prepare the 2013 car, which will be an evolution of this year’s car. Ferrari’s rivals are therefore warned, the Scuderia definitely has no intention of giving up at this stage…