Alonso: we are totally focussed on ourselves

From the Jerez de la Frontera circuit to the one at Montmelò is a distance of around 1100 kilometres, but in the case of the F2012, it has not meant much of a change. Scuderia Ferrari’s new Formula 1 car still needs plenty of running in to get at all its available potential and that is the absolute priority for the team over these next few days before heading off to Melbourne.

Therefore, once again today, Fernando Alonso did a lot of work aimed at data acquisition which is the lifeblood for the Prancing Horse engineers in helping them learn the F2012’s every last little nook and cranny when it comes to its behaviour on track: despite the precision and accuracy of computers and simulators, nothing really delivers results regarding the efficacy of components and the design as a whole like a track can. It was not until the afternoon that Fernando began to do runs with a reasonable number of laps, whereas in the morning, the work centred mainly on evaluating different aerodynamic configurations. In the end, there were 75 laps in the bag, equivalent to around 350 kilometres, the quickest in a time of 1.24.100. There was just one minor problem halfway through the morning, which cost around an hour, but the rest of the day went off without a hitch.

“There’s still a lot of work to do, but isn’t that what we are here for?” said Fernando speaking to ferrarif1.com. “I don’t think we will see anything different over the coming days, because before we can see what this car is really capable of, we must piece together all the pieces in the jigsaw. I know there is much expectation from the outside, but we are totally focussed on ourselves, without giving a thought to what is going on around us. We will only start to properly understand the situation in Melbourne.”

Therefore the Reds won’t be singing off a different song sheet tomorrow: once again some aero testing, more comparisons of different configurations and so a lot to do for engineers and mechanics. Indeed, that is the very essence of Formula 1: the work of a hundred or so people at the track and in the factory, to give a driver what he needs to be fastest, but in the races, not the tests.