Costa pleased with the work accomplished

Three days of testing, the very first of the season, are not enough to produce concrete evidence regarding the effectiveness of the work done by the teams on their new cars. Scuderia Ferrari was certainly not the exception to this rule, as was confirmed by Technical Director Aldo Costa, during a brief meeting with the media at the “Ricardo Tormo” circuit at Cheste.

“There are still so many questions hanging in the air that it’s impossible to have a realistic view of the situation, starting with the tyres,” said Costa. “In the very short time at its disposal, Pirelli has done a great job of bringing tyres here that, from a construction point of view, which effectively means in terms of reliability, are on the right track. And now they are developing the compounds, which according to the Milan-based company, will now evolve from there. Then it is up to us to work on the mechanical set-up of the car to improve the tyre behaviour.”

Inevitably, the press wanted an opinion as to how this first run of tests had gone. “Looking at our own work in isolation, we can be pleased with what we have done,” said the engineer from Parma. “We are more or less where we expected, even if there is still work to do to have a full understanding of the handling of the car, especially when it comes to aerodynamics and tyres. However, if we had to say where we are compared to the others, then it would not be possible to give a precise answer. I’m not saying we’re stumbling around in the dark, but almost, given how many unknown factors are in play here. Then, you have to remember, this is only the start: for our part, we know that between now and Jerez we have a good basis on which to work on the mechanical side, while when it comes to aerodynamics, we will not see the final version of the F150 until we get to Bahrain. And I think that’s pretty much the case for everyone.”

Today, Felipe lost around four hours of track time because of a reliability problem and Costa provided this explanation as to its cause: “It was a silly thing really: a pipe came undone and the oil that escaped ended up on the exhausts and tyres. That led to the spin and the small fire which caused the damage that led to a long stop in the garage. It was a shame, as until this point, everything had gone smoothly.”

Another topic that was at the centre of attention was the moveable rear wing, even if the precise details about how this aid can be used in the races have not been finalised. “The FIA has informed us that the operation of the rear wing can be effected by the following car, six hundred metres from the end of the straight, in the case of the gap between the two cars being under a certain time, prior to going into the final corner leading onto the straight in question,” continued the Maranello team’s technical director. “Further information, going into detail and the various scenarios still has to be clarified and it’s been said that, at least in the early part of the season, the use of the moveable wing will not be allowed in the case of a wet race. Then it will be a case of seeing how things go in the race to understand how to proceed.”

As an experienced engineer, Costa had spotted some original ideas on some cars: “We definitely saw some pretty extreme things such as the exhausts on the Renault and the gearbox on the Williams,” said Aldo. “There are so many irons in the fire, from our side too, so it will be interesting to see how it all turns out. We are pleased with the work we have done. What counts when it comes to having a quick car is not so much to be innovative, but more a case of being able to have enough performance to deliver the lap time.”