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Last Sunday
the F1 teams were racing in Australia and yesterday,
free practice got underway for the Malaysian Grand Prix,
the second round of the world championship. It’s a
format the Formula 1 circus will get used to in 2012 as,
this year, there are no less than seven sets of
“back-to-back” races. It’s a punishing schedule, but
this particular trip to what is the other side of the
world for all the teams is perhaps the toughest: there
is always a rush to get ready for the opening round of
the season, the working day tends to be longer when the
cars are new and after Melbourne, the teams then had to
start work almost immediately in the physically draining
heat and humidity of Sepang.
Races one week apart also mean the Scuderia’s F2012 is
largely unchanged since the opening act in Albert Park.
However, in a bid to wipe out all causes of Felipe
Massa’s inability to get a coherent performance out of a
car that appeared to suit him in winter tests, the
Brazilian had a new chassis and some other parts were
also changed. On top of that, the engineers had planned
a packed programme, as everyone at Scuderia Ferrari has
been working flat out to increase the performance level
of the F2012 as it strives to catch the quickest cars on
the grid. At a normal test session, carrying out
aerodynamic evaluations can be quite a straightforward
task of comparing different settings, but when you also
have to fit in understanding the tyres, searching for
outright speed over a single lap for Saturday’s
qualifying and getting a well balanced car to be kind on
tyres over a long run on Sunday, then life gets more
complicated. However, a trouble free three hours of
practice for both cars meant every item on the job list
was ticked off come the chequered flag to end Free
Practice 2 at 3.30.
Dominating the afternoon time sheet were the McLaren and
Mercedes teams: pole man from Australia, Lewis Hamilton
was fastest for the former, followed by Michael
Schumacher second for the latter, with their respective
team-mates, Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg third and
fourth. Fifth ahead of Fernando was Daniel Ricciardo for
Toro Rosso.
Fernando Alonso:
“As usual here in Malaysia, one of the main tasks on
Friday is to get used to the extreme conditions as
quickly as possible. Especially in the garage, you
suffer from the heat when you are inside the cockpit,
while at least out on track, you get a bit of air,
although you can hardly call it cool! This morning we
did a lot of work on comparing different aerodynamic
configurations, which was a bit like putting together a
puzzle, trying to find the best combination. In the
afternoon, we then moved on to the usual Friday job with
the tyres, running with various different fuel levels on
board. I would say that on this front, both the Mediums
and the Hards seem to behave reasonably well, both in
terms of performance on the first lap and when it comes
to degradation on a long run. We gathered a lot of
useful information which will allow us to be ready for
the rest of the weekend. It did not rain today, but we
know that here a storm can arrive without a moment’s
notice and so we need to be ready for every
eventuality.”
Felipe Massa: Fernando and I were on
rather different programmes from each other and that is
the main reason for the difference on the time sheet. In
the afternoon in particular, we went in completely
different directions which in my case did not work, but
at least it allowed me to understand a few important
things about the handling of the car. Now my engineers
and I know what is the right direction to go in, which
makes me feel more optimistic for qualifying compared to
how I felt about it last week in Melbourne. Clearly, at
the moment, our car is not yet competitive at the
highest level. Do I feel any special pressure? No, no
more than usual: at Ferrari we are always under
pressure. The important thing is to understand what did
not work in Melbourne and I think we have everything in
hand to do that.”
Pat Fry: “Both drivers had a very
packed programme today, with slight differences between
them, but focussed on the same three main points: a
comparison between various aerodynamic configurations,
an evaluation of the performance of the two types of
tyre (Medium and Hard) that Pirelli have brought here
and trying to find the best set-up. We had no major
problems and so we were able to complete the entire
programme and now we are analysing the data to fine tune
the two cars for qualifying and the race. I would say
that, at first glance, the situation is not that
different to last week, nor could it be any other way,
given that the cars are more or less identical to the
way they were in Melbourne. We did not see any
particular balance problems and the pace over a long run
does not seem that bad. Fernando in particular seems to
be a bit more comfortable with the car, while we still
have work to do to put Felipe in the best conditions
possible. The aim for tomorrow is to get both cars into
Q3: we are aware that, with our current potential, it
will not be easy, but we will give it our all.”
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