"Together with Philip Morris International we have decided to modify the livery of our cars starting with the Barcelona Grand Prix," a Scuderia Ferrari statement issued yesterday read, before adding: "This decision was taken in order to remove all speculation concerning the so-called 'bar code' which was never intended to be a reference to a tobacco brand. By this we want to put an end to this ridiculous story and concentrate on more important things than on such groundless allegations."

Meanwhile yesterday’s official FIA press conference in Barcelona, predictably enough, was a mainly Spanish affair, with Fernando Alonso on the panel, along with his fellow countrymen, Pedro De La Rosa and Jaime Alguersuari. The Ferrari driver began by taking a realistic approach to what the team can expect to do here, even though there are some technical innovations being introduced this weekend on the F10. “As everybody else, we will introduce something here, but I don’t think it is huge or that we change the car completely so they are really very small modifications, mainly aero updates and some improvements also in the engine in terms of reliability,” said Alonso.

Neither did the Ferrari man expect to see a major change to the team hierarchy at the start of the European leg of the season. “I don’t think it will change dramatically here. Maybe it will depend circuit by circuit more than on the car modifications. We saw in winter testing, the last test here, was nothing special for us, so we expect to have a lot of work to do tomorrow and Saturday to change that situation and be as competitive as we were in some other places. Our target at the moment is to maximise our potential in the coming races. I think in the first part of the championship we had a very strong car but maybe we did not take all the points we should so there is no room for mistakes in the next few races and we would like to take back the lead in the championship as soon as possible.”

On the human side, the local boy is really looking forward to this weekend. “In the past, the Spanish Grand Prix has been a great race for me in terms of emotions and in terms of results as well,” he recalled. “I have been quite lucky always to be in a good position and have a competitive car with my past teams, Renault and McLaren and so for this weekend I hope I can get on the podium again wearing another colour.”

On a cool and cloudy Thursday afternoon, with a few drops of rain falling on the Catalunya circuit, for the first time this season, Felipe Massa met the media in the surroundings of the team motorhome, rather than the improvised offices at the first four races outside Europe. “We have introduced updates to the car, mainly from the aero point of view, especially with the “famous” blown rear wing, which we will try in free practice here,” began Felipe when asked about how the F10 has changed since the Chinese Grand Prix. “I don’t think it matters that we are only starting with this type of wing now, because for the moment, only one other team has made good use of it, so I don’t feel we are having to catch up in this area. After all, it is just one element in the package. I hope it gives us some more performance. But most of the teams will have also introduced updates, so let’s hope we have made a bigger step forward than the rest! Also, as you have heard, we have made a change to the engines to deal with a small reliability issue and that will definitely be important for us.”

Asked to pick Ferrari’s main rival for this weekend, the Brazilian came up with the usual list: “so far this season, we have seen that Red Bull has been very strong in qualifying but we cannot rule out McLaren and possibly also Mercedes are getting stronger.” Here in Barcelona, Felipe was asked if it bothered him that his new team-mate seemed to get more media attention. “We are both strong drivers and remember I have had Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen as my team-mates here in Ferrari,” he replied. “I will not be driving around here to see who the fans are cheering for in the grandstands and in any case, I have always had a nice welcome from the Spanish people. I will just be trying to do the best job I can. I feel very at home with this team and I don’t mind if there is more talk about my team-mate, who of course is very popular here in Spain for his home race. The important thing is that we work well together to develop and improve the car so we both get good results.”