Friday: Ferrari a bit more optimistic in China
Even if Red Bull and McLaren are in form this weekend, Ferrari isn't saying its last word. The tire temperature could work in their favor, and it will be a test for the prancing horse team.
Felipe Massa – 6th and 6th:
« As was already the case during the first two races of the season, today we witnessed a very fast Red Bull. I am reasonably satisfied with the car’s performance in long stints, which gave us some interesting results. I hope for better qualifying, but we know it will be very difficult, whereas from what we saw today, I think the race situation could be similar to what we saw in Malaysia. »
Fernando used new parts but it’s too early to say if they really represent progress: unfortunately, he encountered problems and didn’t manage to do as much as expected. The soft tires seem much better than the hard ones: not only because they provide more grip, which is normal, but also because the degradation isn’t as high as we’ve seen before. Over the years, I’ve found it increasingly pleasant to come here to Shanghai: at first, everything was a bit chaotic but now the situation has improved and, as in my home in Brazil, many efforts are being made to progress in many areas and it can clearly be seen.
Fernando Alonso – 12th and 14th:
I lost precious time due to a hydraulic problem during both sessions, but especially in the first one. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to do any long runs to get an idea of the tire degradation, but fortunately, Felipe was able to do it with both types of tires. So at least we have a good base to start from.
«Regarding the new aerodynamic components, it is too early to say if they really provide an advantage. Engineers will now have to carefully analyze the data before drawing any definitive conclusions to know whether we are moving in the right direction in terms of development or not.»
From what I have seen, there are no problems, or at least they are very minor, with the warming up of hard tires, which could help us to bring our tires up to temperature during qualifications.
I don’t expect many changes compared to what we saw in Malaysia and Australia: McLaren and especially Red Bull are faster than us and are the favorites. At the moment, we cannot fight for the victory, but that doesn’t mean we won’t try.
