It was the unit that had already given cause for concern and was changed after qualifying in the opening race in Bahrain and as the Spaniard himself pointed out: “we knew it could fail sooner or later and it happened today.” The key point is that in terms of how the eight engines available per driver per season are managed, there is no significant change to Alonso’s programme. Apart from the new aero package for this weekend, adding to the workload was an evaluation of parts that are planned for use in the mid-term future.

The drivers’ positions on the time sheet? Not that it means much yesterday, but Fernando Alonso was tenth fastest, with his team-mate right behind him in eleventh spot. McLaren were the main players with Jenson Button topping the time sheet in the morning, before ending up third in the second session, with Lewis Hamilton fastest in the afternoon. Second was the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, with his fellow countryman and team-mate, Michael Schumacher fourth. The Red Bull pairing of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber are fifth and sixth respectively. The closer it gets to race day, the more accurate is the time sheet in assessing performance: the last free practice hour today will be the final dress rehearsal for the all important afternoon qualifying session to decide the grid for tomorrow’s race.

“We had various new components on the car, including a new type of rear wing and other aerodynamic parts, which required a specific work schedule,” said Stefano Domenicali. “Clearly we could have done without the problem we had with Fernando’s engine but, overall, this did not lead to any specific consequences, apart from time lost in this morning’s first session, as our management programme relating to available engine use remains substantially unchanged. We are reasonably happy with the work we did and now we will concentrate on analysing the date and on preparing the cars for qualifying and the race. While it is always difficult to evaluate the pecking order based on what happens in free practice, we are not expecting a very different picture to the one we have seen in the first three races of the season: in other words, everyone is very closely matched, meaning the grid positions could be decided by the smallest detail.”

Felipe Massa: “I am satisfied with the way this free practice day went. We did a lot of kilometres, concentrating mainly on preparing the car for Sunday’s race. We also evaluated new aerodynamic components, not just for this race, but also for mid-term development, gathering significant data which will now be analysed by the engineers. On top of that, we managed to do a comparison between the two types of tyre that Bridgestone has brought here. I think several teams are going to be very competitive: not just McLaren and Red Bull, but also Mercedes who have made a step forward. Let’s hope we will be in the fight with them.”

Fernando Alonso: “Clearly I’m not happy to have had an engine failure, but I’m not the slightest bit worried by it. The engine I had this morning was the one we had changed after qualifying in Bahrain and we knew that, sooner or later, it could break. It happened today, but it won’t have much effect on our original engine management plan. We also did various tests of new aerodynamic components, such as the rear wing. It is pointless looking at today’s time sheet, because each team follows its own work programme and that makes it impossible to compare the times. We stuck to our plan and we are pretty happy with what we achieved. I think we will be competitive at this track.”

Chris Dyer: “We had a very busy programme for today and we can say we got through it in a positive way. We have a new aero package for this race, which needed validating on track and then we had some parts relating to a new concept for the rear wing, which we wanted to check out before moving on to develop it for forthcoming races. We are pleased with the data we gathered and with the way the new aerodynamic package is working. In the afternoon, we looked mainly at the comparison between the two types of tyre Bridgestone has brought for this Grand Prix. In the morning, we had a problem with Fernando’s engine, which had little consequence, apart from bringing forward by one session the previously planned engine change.”

Friday Details:

First session Second session
Driver Pos. Time Laps Pos. Time Laps Chassis

F. Alonso 24th - 6 10th 1.36.604 33 283
F. Massa 10th 1.38.098 19 11th 1.36.944 36 281

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