Friday: The Ferrari seems quite performant
If Fernando Alonso knows that a challenging weekend awaits him in his quest for the title, Felipe Massa seemed rather pleased with his first day of testing. The Ferrari driver, who is racing at home, posted good times and is quite satisfied with his F2012.
Fernando Alonso – 5th and 5th:
« It was very hot on the circuit today and, particularly this afternoon, track temperatures were well above normal, even for this circuit. We haven’t found the ideal balance for the car yet, so there is still a lot of work to do with the engineers for the rest of the weekend. The forecasts are very different from Saturday to Sunday, one more reason to focus on the best choices to prepare the car well for qualifying, but also for the race. After so many Fridays, there’s not much new to say about the tires: the hards seem to be more consistent, while the mediums allow for better lap times. It’s difficult to say whether we prefer the race to be dry or wet: as I said before, it’s vital to be prepared to handle both situations. We know we need to score 14 more points than Vettel in the championship and not lose as much to McLaren to retain our second place in the constructors’ championship. Our goals are clear, but also difficult to achieve. »
Felipe Massa – 6th and 4th:
« It was a busy Friday in terms of work, with a lot of kilometers covered to find the best settings for the car. I’m quite happy with my times, especially my pace on the long stints: I think I was the fastest man on track at the end of the session. On my first lap with the mediums, I lost a few tenths in the second corner, so in terms of time, I could have done better than 4th place. The tires are the same, but their performance is completely different from what we saw in Austin last week: the degradation is clearly more significant here, so I don’t think we’ll see one-stop strategies. My helmet? It’s weird not to see anything yellow in the mirrors to the point that sometimes I thought it wasn’t me driving! »
