FP1 & FP2 Australian GP report: Ferrari

Fernando Alonso: “On the first Friday of the season, there’s always a bit more tension. It’s the start of a new championship and there is the feeling of general expectation to see how things we worked on during the winter are functioning. Overall, this was a positive day for us and even if there was an element of nervousness because of the complexity introduced by the new technical regulations, everything went well. The team did a super job and we had no problems. The track improved from the first session to the second, with more grip compared to the morning and there was also more wind. Running the soft tyre certainly helped, as the extra grip meant the times came down, but it’s impossible to have a clear idea of how competitive we are, because as usual, Friday results don’t mean much. To know more, we must wait until everyone is running in the same trim”.

Kimi Raikkonen: “That was a pretty demanding day, because although we managed to complete our programme, it wasn’t trouble-free. In the first session we lost a bit of time, but that didn’t prevent us acquiring enough data to evaluate the overall handling of the car and the Pirelli compounds. This evening there will be a lot of work to do, especially to understand what didn’t work and to try and improve for qualifying and the race”.

Pat Fry: “Today, we tried to make the most of the good weather and track conditions to work on different strategies and mapping for the race, because this weekend the forecast is very uncertain, especially for tomorrow. During the first session, we concentrated on car set-up, especially in terms of improving the balance under braking and on optimising the drivers’ feeling. In the second session, we ran an evaluation of the soft tyre, completing the programme with a series of long runs. It’s very complicated getting the new systems to work perfectly and then, once you’ve reached that level, to get the maximum performance out of the car. There’s a long way to go and now it’s important to stay focused and pay full attention to the smallest details”.