A day of red hot enthusiasm at Fiorano

Over a thousand people braved the cold and damp this morning to see the Ferrari F150 and the Scuderia’s full complement of drivers from Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa to Bianchi, Fisichella, Bertolini and all the youngsters from the Ferrari Driver Academy.

On this second day of acquiring footage of the car’s new livery for advertising purposes, the Fiorano Track opened its gates to a section of the fifteen thousand Scuderia Ferrari Club members. “I would like to thank all of you for having coming all the way here to give us your passionate support,” said Stefano Domenicali as he got the day underway by addressing the crowd. “Last year, on the day we won at Monza, feeling this wave of affection from all of you was a great motivating force as we fought our way back and we hope to give you something back this year with a championship title, something that we missed out on in Abu Dhabi by the smallest of margins. This car is dedicated to celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Italian Unification because it is part of our makeup to feel pride in representing our country all over the world. Even if we have team-members who come from many different countries, starting with a Spaniard like Fernando and a Brazilian, albeit with Italian origins, like Felipe, we have a strong desire to hold high the national flag which is now seen in all its glory on our car.”

The weather was definitely not at its best, with a bit of sleet in the early hours of the morning making the track damp and temperatures were even lower than yesterday, so that Felipe Massa only did just over sixty kilometres at the wheel of the F150. The car was then loaded onto a truck which headed off to Cheste, near Valencia, where on Tuesday 1st February the development testing will get underway. Giving the newborn car its first ever run up against its rivals will be Fernando Alonso, who will also drive on the following day. On Thursday 3rd it will be Felipe Massa who will bring to a close the first of four pre-season test sessions.