The message
from Maranello after the first 2010 session is very
clear, to stay realistic and concentrate on the work the
road of recovery from 2009 which is still very, long and
difficult. The response from the three-day testing at
the "Ricardo Tormo" circuit was positive, but can’t lead
to any hasty conclusions.
"We know
very well that the tests’ lap times, especially this
year, have to be handled with care. Using an Italian
expression from football, we’re still in ‘August
football’,” Stefano Domenicali, said Scuderia Ferrari
Team Principal. "We can’t forget where we were in terms
of performance at the last GP last year. There is still
a lot of work to do to close the gap and there are still
many problems we have to solve. And then we don’t know
the petrol loads the other cars had on board, so it’s
impossible to get a clear idea of the relative strengths
on the track. Maybe someone also wants to play hide and
seek and some still have to present their cars.”
Usually the
first test session is used to collect as much data as
possible to start verifying the car’s behaviour on the
track. So it’s obvious that everybody worked in this
direction, without looking for the limit. "If there is
one thing we’re really satisfied with then it’s the
reliability the car has shown. The more than 1,400
kilometres driven are a very good start and we need to
ensure that the intense work at the test stand and in
terms of simulations over the weeks before the debut on
the track, will bear fruit," Domenicali said. "In
Valencia we also started to get to know the new
Bridgestone tyres’ behaviour also related to the petrol
load. But the data is still absolutely relative: this
track is not particularly demanding on the tyres and the
temperatures weren’t the ones we’ll have for example
during the season’s first three races."
A comment
dedicated to the two drivers: "They were both very happy
with how things went. Especially regarding the car’s
reliability. They are both extremely motivated and have
a great desire to drive: it would have been frustrating
if we hadn’t started on the right track here. Both,
Felipe and Fernando, know that we have to work a lot and
they already gave many indications where we have to
improve the car."
Eventually
Domenicali recommended caution: "There are no miracles
in Formula 1: if you want to be fast you have to work
hard for months and months and then you’ll meet your
competitors, who have as much capacities and are as
motivated as you. We can’t take anything for granted and
we shouldn’t delude ourselves by indications, which
could be completely misleading. We can’t work like in
football where two good or bad results are enough to
pass from riches to rags or vice versa."
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