Alonso: Mugello was about setup

Fernando Alonso has claimed Ferrari focussed more of their time last week learning about what they have, rather than testing new parts.

While Alonso said the test had been productive, speaking in the FIA Thursday press conference he dismissed the idea that his team would be able to make a big step forward this week at the Spanish Grand Prix, saying that much of the work done by his team last week in Mugello had been tasked to answering questions left over from the pre-season runs.

“What we tested were different set-ups and things we missed from winter testing. It was quite difficult for us with a lot of problems on the car and not many laps. The Mugello test was to complete what we had left from winter but in terms of improvements, we had minimum changes. We didn’t have any big improvements in the car.”

While the double world champion claimed the information acquired at Mugello was valuable, he acknowledged the lap time improvement to be gained from improving setup is limited, and aero-updates are the place that significant gains are to be made. “Obviously we arrive here more prepared than how we arrived in Australia with only three tests in the winter. But to make the car faster I think in terms of setup you cannot find much. If you want to be running at the front it’s [about] more aerodynamic parts and updates in the car. Hopefully they come but we need to wait.”

Alonso went on to explain that he believes Ferrari’s return to competitiveness will not come from a single problem-solving upgrade but rather a series of steps over the first half of the season. “We need to see how the car works here and if it works fine, it will be a good step, the first step of many that we have to do during the next couple of races,” he said. “If the step is not good enough, because the others improved the same or more than us and we remain in the same position, we need to work harder, for Monaco and for Canada, and bring more new parts in a more aggressive approach. The Championship is long and we will never give up in May, after four races.”