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Ferrari and
the other F1 teams took to the Bahrain track yesterday
for the first racing action of the weekend, although the
grand prix has in reality turned into a sideshow as the
regime's violent crackdown on democracy seeking
protestors hogs all the media attention.
As expected,
given that the F2012 used by Fernando Alonso and Felipe
Massa are, in broad outline, the same as they were a few
days ago in Shanghai, there were no miracles in terms of
performance for the Scuderia Ferrari duo. Fernando
Alonso ended the day with the eighth fastest time having
completed a total over the three hours of 52 laps, just
five short of Sunday’s race distance. Felipe Massa was
twelfth and did three laps less than his Scuderia
Ferrari team-mate. It’s not just that five days is not
exactly enough time to come up with some performance
enhancements, but on top of that, the Sakhir track,
which in the past has proved a happy hunting ground for
Prancing Horse drivers, puts demands on two qualities in
which the F2012 is lacking, namely traction and top
speed.
Working here is tough: the heat is exhausting for the
mechanics in the garage, while the engineers face the
headache of having to come up with a car set-up on a
track where today’s conditions, level of grip and so
forth, are very different to those the drivers will
encounter in Sunday’s fourth round of the World
Championship. Tyre wear is significant and managing the
Medium and Soft Pirellis, especially those fitted to the
rear of the cars, will be one of the most important
factors. A car that gets the most out of them will
deliver a fast lap time in tomorrow’s qualifying and one
that is also kind on them will open up greater strategic
choices for the race, thanks to the ability to run
longer stints.
A few days ago, his name topped the time sheet at the
end of the Chinese Grand Prix and yesterday, Nico
Rosberg did the same, going quickest in his Mercedes in
the second of Friday's 90 minute free practice sessions.
The Mercedes man was the only driver to break the 1m 33s
barrier. Second and third were the two Red Bulls, with
Mark Webber ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Next was the
McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, with Michael Schumacher fifth
in the Mercedes and Jenson Button completing the top six
for McLaren.
Coming from
the Far to the Middle East has not changed much for
Scuderia Ferrari, apart from the much higher
temperatures on this island in the Persian Gulf, than in
China. Therefore it looks like another weekend on the
defensive for Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, whose
F2012s are practically identical to the way they were
seven days ago in Shanghai. Yesterday went off without
any technical hitches and that meant the team was able
to gather all the necessary information to be as well
prepared as possible for today’s qualifying and
tomorrow’s race. The F2012 covered a total of 101 laps,
equivalent to around 550 kilometres: 52 for Fernando, 49
for Felipe.
Fernando Alonso: “Traditionally, I’ve
always gone well at this track, one of the few where I
have won three times. And so it’s always a pleasure to
drive at Sakhir and once again today I had fun. The
first day of the Bahrain Grand Prix is always very
difficult, because the track conditions are never at
their best, mainly because of the sand and wind. On top
of that, this track is used only very rarely, which adds
to making Friday hard to interpret, maybe more so than
other places. That is why, basing all your choices in
terms of set-up on what one has seen today is not always
the right move, because we need to bear in mind that the
track will change a lot between now and Sunday. We tried
as best we could to check the tyre behaviour: we have
the same ones as in Shanghai, but the temperature is
very different. There is still a lot to do, especially
on the rear end, to try and find more grip.”
Felipe Massa: “It was a very hot day,
on which we concentrated mainly on analysing the
behaviour of the Pirelli tyres. From what we could see
today, the degradation is very marked with both
compounds, more so than at other tracks. It was an
important task, especially looking to the race, but also
for the session that will decide the grid positions.
Without a doubt, we still have a lot of work to do. The
fundamental thing will be to put together a car that is
consistent in performance terms, to try and slow the
rate of tyre degradation.”
Pat Fry: “Only the track has changed
and the car has remained practically identical,
therefore it would be hard for our position relative to
the others to be any different. Above all, we are at a
track where traction and straight line speed are two key
factors in achieving a competitive performance and,
currently, the F2012 has shown itself to be particularly
lacking in precisely these two areas. Therefore why
should we be surprised by our position and the gaps to
the quickest? In contrast to Shanghai, the temperatures
are much higher here, which has a significant effect on
tyre behaviour. Today, we did the usual work, comparing
aerodynamic configurations that are slightly different
to one another, while also working on the set-up of the
two cars. Now it’s a case of analysing the data well and
putting together the best of what we’ve got. We can
expect qualifying to be very tough tomorrow: there’s no
denying that getting both cars into Q3 will be very
difficult.”
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