Massa: “We will probably keep the new configuration”

Felipe Massa is satisfied with his Friday in Canada: in Montreal the Ferrari driver finished FP2 in third place, but above all he is satisfied with the innovations brought by the Cavallino.

“It was a very positive Friday for us, we managed to do many laps and, above all, to try everything that was in the programme”, explained the Brazilian after free practice in the afternoon, which saw the unleashing of a real deluge immediately after the checkered flag. “Luckily the rain, and what rain, came after the second session had come to an end, so we were able to do everything right. I think we can be happy with the fact that the innovations we brought here worked even if it is difficult to measure their impact on performance when hot. In any case, the intention is to keep the new configuration on the car. The car seems to be well balanced and seemed to me to be quite consistent in terms of performance even though, obviously, the track still didn't offer much grip as today was the first day of the race weekend. All in all, it's the best Friday of 2012: we hope to continue like this on Saturday and Sunday too.", concluded Massa.

Pat Fry, technical manager of the Cavallino, explains what the new features consist of: “We had a lot of work to do today and we were afraid of the rain coming which could have complicated our lives a lot. Fortunately, the expected storm arrived just after the end of the second practice session so we managed to do everything we had set out to do. We had brought two different exhaust configurations here: one was the one used in the last two races, the other represents our latest interpretation of the concept that was part of the car that debuted in the Jerez tests. Based on what we were able to see today, this latest configuration seems to be positive in terms of performance although, obviously, we have to analyze the data very carefully to make the right choices based on the race".

The choice therefore does not appear to be definitive yet but it is difficult to envisage a drastic rethink, unless the conditions of the track change. Fry explains that very hot weather is forecast for Sunday: “This track requires a level of aerodynamic load that is quite different from those we have been on so far so we have also worked a lot on this front, even in this case, we have to look carefully at the data collected before expressing ourselves one way or the other. Finally, we had to check the behavior of the tyres, in particular the Supersofts, over the long distance: we weren't able to do many laps and the uncertainty linked to temperatures weighs heavily on this aspect. In fact, on Sunday the forecasts indicate an increase of up to ten degrees in the asphalt temperature, which could completely change the situation compared to what we saw today. There is therefore a lot to work on for the rest of the weekend but, at least, we have started on the right foot." the English coach finished.

Lorena Bianchi