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It’s no secret that Scuderia Ferrari
Marlboro is struggling to be competitive at the moment.
However, Felipe Massa put this into perspective when, at the
end of the first three hours of free practice for Sunday’s
Chinese Grand Prix, he pointed out that this was really
nothing serious compared to what had happened to the victims
of the earthquake that hit the Abruzzo region of Italy on
the night after the Malaysian Grand Prix.
In fact both Felipe’s and Kimi’s Ferrari
F60s carried decals with the message “Abruzzo in our hearts”
as a gesture of support for the victims of the disaster and
as publicity for a charity initiative set up to help the
region. Our fellow Italian team, Scuderia Toro Rosso also
carried a message of support, while Jarno Trulli wore the
logo on his overalls.
On track, the Scuderia management and its
drivers made no secret of the fact it is going through a
difficult time: not having a diffuser similar to the ones
the Paris Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday were legal on
three other teams’ cars is just one contributing factor,
while taking the difficult decision to run here without the
KERS system that the team used at the two opening rounds,
compounds the lack of performance, compared to the current
front runners. Therefore, although Friday’s practice times
are not always significant, the fact that Felipe and Kimi
ended the day in twelfth and fourteenth places respectively
is at least indicative of a less than optimum performance
level.
The names at the top of the time sheet today
are those we have come to expect this season. Winner of the
two opening Grands Prix of the season, Jenson Button was
quickest, with his team-mate Rubens Barrichello in third
spot. Splitting the two Brawn GP cars is the Williams-Toyota
of Nico Rosberg. Next up are the Red Bull Renault duo of
Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, the fastest of the “old
style” diffuser cars, while Jarno Trulli completes the top
six for Toyota.
One element that had concerned all teams
before today’s sessions was the suitability of the two types
of Bridgestone tyre, the Super-Soft and the Medium, the same
as used in Melbourne. At the Australian venue, both had
proved somewhat difficult to manage, but here, on the
grippier Shanghai track surface, all seems to be well on the
tyre front. Tomorrow afternoon’s qualifying session will no
doubt give a clearer picture on this element of the package
and on just how much of a challenge the Scuderia will be
facing on Sunday.
“Abruzzo nel cuore” (Abruzzo in our hearts.)
This message of solidarity with the people of the area hit
by an earthquake on 6th April, appeared this morning on the
Ferrari F60s of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, here at the
Chinese Grand Prix. “President Montezemolo was keen to give
a sign of support for everyone who lived through this
tragedy and we are proud for our cars to carry the name of a
region of Italy which is very close to our hearts,
especially at a time like this,” commented Scuderia Ferrari
Marlboro Team Principal, Stefano Domenicali. “As for
today’s track activity, I can say it turned out much as we
had expected. We will have to run a few races on the
defensive and try and do the best we can. Clearly, without
KERS, we lose a bit of performance and initial indications
are that we are not seeing any improvement in the balance of
a car that, let’s not forget, was designed to carry this
system. We are in a difficult situation and we must try and
stay calm and work hard on all fronts.”
Felipe Massa: “We are in a difficult
situation on the technical front, but when one thinks of
what happened to those who we are close to and in the daily
life of the people of Abruzzo, everything else takes on a
different perspective. I hope that having the “Abruzzo nel
cuore” message on the cars, as requested by President
Montezemolo, might help to make these people feel less
alone. As for the track, I can say our fight for the
championship is ever more compromised. Here we are also
running without KERS and as a result, we are losing even
more performance, in addition to not having as much
aerodynamic downforce as the best cars. We must try and push
as hard as possible on the development of the car, but we
know it will be very hard to catch up. The only recipe for
getting out of this difficulty is to work.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “The balance of the
car isn’t bad and one doesn’t feel the lack of KERS. The
point is that we are too slow compared to the teams
currently at the top of the order. We must try and improve
the car: at the moment, we are not able to fight for the
title. We must not give up the fight because, with the whole
team working hard, we can get back into a winning position.
It’s not an easy time, but our group is strong and we know
what needs to be done to get out of this situation. The
softer tyre seems to work better than it did in Australia.”
Chris Dyer: “We worked mainly on
evaluating the two types of tyre made available to us here
by Bridgestone, in terms of Sunday’s race. Here, the softer
tyre seems to work better to what we saw in Australia, while
the harder one has performed as we had expected. We had no
technical problems during the three hours of practice and we
were able to evaluate new aerodynamic solutions, that,
today, were fitted to Felipe’s car. Tomorrow, they will be
used on both cars.”
First Session
F. Massa: 15th 1.38.418 20 laps
K. Raikkonen: 11th 1.38.223 23 laps
Second Session
F. Massa: 12th 1.36.847 34 laps
K. Raikkonen: 14th 1.37.054 33 laps
Chassis: F. Massa 275, K. Raikkonen 276
Weather
First session: air 18/20 °C, track 27/33 °C,
sunny.
Second session: air 21 °C, track 35/34 °C, sunny.
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