Alonso: “Ferrari ready for Melbourne”

The rain disturbed the last day of F1 testing in Barcelona and Ferrari, unlike Mercedes, McLaren and Williams, decided to end the program a few hours early. Fernando Alonso therefore only completed those five "out-ins" laboriously put together between 10 and 11 this morning.

“There weren't the conditions to lap in a way that was useful for really learning something” – commented the Spanish driver at the end of the day – “If we had found ourselves in a race weekend with these conditions there would certainly have been a red flag. Despite this day, I am still satisfied with how the winter tests went. On average we covered about a hundred laps a day, demonstrating that we have that reliability which is always the priority when a new car is presented: we are the team that has done the most kilometers of all. There isn't one thing that I liked less than others about these fifteen days of testing: it certainly takes time to understand the behavior of the new tyres, which will make the races very different compared to last year and, also in this sector, to have After many kilometers I think it could be useful to us. Furthermore, we will have to see how the tires perform with higher temperatures, as we could have in Australia and, even more so, in Malaysia. In November, at the Abu Dhabi tests, the situation was a little different compared to these tests in Spain but we will only know more during the race. What is certain is that we will not see races like those of 2010, where the strategy was clear from the start of the weekend. This year we will need to carefully study whether it will be better to make two, three or four stops, be flexible and prepared to manage any situation. Maybe sometimes it will be better to do a few less laps in each stint and use the tire in its best performance phase or try to make one less stop: it will depend on the tracks and the evolution of the race. Yesterday we did a good simulation, alternating the two types of tires in the four stops: we'll see what happens in Melbourne.”

Alonso promoted the work done by the team in these tests: “All in all, I think we will arrive in Melbourne 100% prepared: whether it will be enough to win we will only see in Australia. I feel as confident as I felt last year before the start of the championship: we are in good condition even if we know that we are not racing alone. We want to win but that doesn't mean it's a disaster if it doesn't happen: sport can't just be about winning or losing. If we win it will be fantastic, if we don't we will try again the following year, as Ferrari always does. What is certain is that we will always have to push on development, as we did last year: for example, I hope that at Albert Park we will be able to have some updates, in particular on the front wing, which can give us a little more in terms of performance.”

In Wrooom Alonso had said that he considered Michael Schumacher as one of his strongest rivals and his statement was greeted with poorly concealed skepticism by the media. The performance of the ex-Ferrari driver and Mercedes yesterday made many think again and it was obvious to ask Fernando if it had been a surprise for him: “I honestly didn't think about when I told Madonna di Campiglio! I think Mercedes have shown that they have made a good step forward since the start of testing and are one of the favorites for Melbourne. It's normal that, with a fast car, Michael is immediately competitive. It's not a surprise because I always think that there is a fairly large group, made up of Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes, Renault and perhaps Williams who, together with us, can aspire to fight for victory in the first races. Then we will have a more realistic picture of the situation and a smaller group of teams that will compete for the championship: we hope to be part of it too. I don't think it makes much difference for us to be ahead or behind Red Bull, perhaps the favourite, in terms of work to do: if you have to recover you multiply your energy to do it quickly, if you have an advantage, you do the same thing to maintain it. Formula 1 is like this. The goal is always to have the fastest car of the lot: everything else can be decisive at certain times but, in the long run, it's whoever has the fastest package who wins."