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Fernando Alonso’s pace was good enough to
let him fight for a podium finish, which is
something when it is considered that one of
the Red Bulls, Sebastien Vettel’s to be
precise, was running on a different level to
everyone else. |
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Eighteen points is
without a doubt not the sort of haul that lives up to
its expectations and no one at Scuderia Ferrari can hide
from the reality that this was not the start to the
championship it wanted or hoped for. Having said that -
says Ferrari - there’s no point making out that it is a
catastrophe: better to concentrate our efforts on
analysing the reasons why the 150° Italia did not run at
its real potential. That’s why Stefano Domenicali and
the Scuderia’s senior engineers flew back to Europe
immediately after the race in Albert Park, while most of
the personnel stayed on in Melbourne, prior to flying on
to Sepang at the weekend.
There are still some positives to be drawn from
yesterday’s race, believes Ferrari. True enough, the two
fastest race laps came courtesy of the two Ferrari men,
with Massa setting a time of 1.28.947 on lap 55 with
soft tyres, while Alonso stopped the clocks in 1.29.487
on lap 49 on the Prime tyres. Those figures need to be
considered carefully, because drivers can find
themselves in different situations during the race and,
in the closing stages, when fuel loads have dropped,
those who are not fighting for position have no need to
push on, but it’s still worth noting that the third best
time came from Mark Webber, who did a 1.29.600 on lap
50.
The Maranello cars definitely delivered a better
performance in the race than they had in qualifying.
That wouldn’t take much, the critics might say, but it
is a positive note nevertheless. Alonso’s pace was good
enough to let him fight for a podium finish, which is
something when it is considered that one of the Red
Bulls, Sebastien Vettel’s to be precise, was running on
a different level to everyone else. It was also true
that Massa’s tyres suffered an overall degradation that
was much more significant than his team-mate’s: the
management of the Pirelli tyres and finding the right
way to get the most out of them will be one of the key
factors this season. Clearly, there is plenty for the
men from Maranello to get their teeth into and there is
an absolute determination to react immediately so as to
turn up in much better shape in Malaysia.
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