Fry: Ferrari in a state of constant evolution

On an overcast and damp day off from F1 track action in the Monaco paddock, the media were given some insights into the technical programme at Scuderia Ferrari, when journalists attended a press conference held by the team’s Technical Director, Pat Fry. First point on the agenda was the effect the F2012’s less than perfect levels of traction would affect car performance on the streets of the Principality. “The issues are a bit different here,” began the Englishman. “Our traction is not as good as we would like but here there is no real lateral loaded traction, as the track features the classic “point and squirt” corners, but in general it is an area we are still working to improve.”

Summing up recent progress on the development front, Fry was satisfied the work was going in the right direction. “We made a reasonable step forward in Barcelona, closing the gap a bit to the car ahead of us in performance terms, but we are still not the quickest and, until we are the quickest, we will not be happy,” he said. “We have a few little updates here and we will have some more for Canada, but our level is also dependent on what the others are doing. In some ways, it was easier for us to catch up in Spain, because we were starting from a position where we were not so good. But we did manage to improve our performance and we need to continue with that rate of development. We must work hard and get the parts on the car. Earlier in the year, there were clearly things that we had done wrong and since then, most of the updates we introduced have worked as we wanted, while a few are still not matching our expectations. In Monaco, you cannot really try changing parts on the car, as this place is all about keeping the car the same and letting the drivers get used to the track.”

Fernando Alonso has suggested that the current trend which has seen five different cars win five races will end soon, as the so called “top” teams establish this superiority. Fry is not sure if that will be the case. “There are three or four teams that have had the capacity to develop their car throughout the year and we have not had a season as close as this before: so far, some teams are updating their cars only every four races, while others like ourselves, McLaren and Red Bull are bringing updates as soon as we find something. We are in a state of constant evolution. I’m sure now most teams will adopt that strategy as it is so close. It is good for the sport to have five drivers from five different teams winning that number of races. It is so close and in Q2 in Spain for example, there was just 50 milliseconds separating fifth place from eleventh.”

Asked for a prediction relating to tomorrow’s qualifying, Fry was not going to make any rash statements. “We are always trying to fight for pole position and here it will again be very close, although this track is less about car efficiency and more about driver skill. I expect Lotus to be very strong tomorrow, and McLaren and there are plenty of other strong teams out there.” With all the talk about catching up, it can be hard to believe that a Ferrari man is joint leader of the Drivers’ Championship at the moment. “It is a fortunate position to be in after where we were in winter testing and in the early races,” admitted Fry. “Everyone has worked very hard; everyone in the whole company has knuckled down to get us where we are, including the drivers, especially Fernando who has driven some excellent races. But there is an element of luck that we are in this position, rather than it being by design. Looking back at the year, I can be pleased at how we have recovered so far from where we were at the start. I think by the end of the year we will be a lot stronger.”