Friday: Alonso and Räikkönen share tasks at Ferrari
Fernando Alonso seemed quite lively during the first day of the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix of F1; Kimi Räikkönen and he were able to complete their joint program.
Fernando Alonso (No. 14) – 3rd and 3rd
Being one of the four riders who have already experienced the Red Bull Ring track, the Spaniard is happy to return: « It’s good to be back here, the track has a lot of elevation changes, which always makes the driving enjoyable. »
« During the two sessions, Kimi and I were on different programs and now, we need to put all the data together to choose which of the elements we tested work best, » he explains.
However, nothing significant could be gleaned from the tires, whose performance was not optimized by the weather conditions: « In terms of tires, the super-softs seem faster, which will likely be the tires for qualifying, but for the race, it’s impossible to define now what the strategy will be. It was cloudy today and there were even a few drops of rain, but the following days should be sunny, and the tire behavior might change. »
Kimi Räikkönen (No. 7) – 11th and 11th
The Finn also had an active Friday: « Today was particularly studious, which is normal when you return to a circuit for the first time in a long time. »
He explains in more detail the division of tasks between Alonso and himself: « Despite the changing conditions that reduced track time in the first session, we managed to complete our program, which was focused on analyzing new aerodynamic parts. With Fernando, we concentrated on different setup tests, me at the front and him at the rear, to compare data in the second session. »
« In the afternoon, I had a better feeling with the car, but for various reasons, such as lack of grip, traffic, and wind, I was unable to achieve a good lap or improve the final sector, » he concluded.
