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There was an
exchange of gifts in the Singapore pit lane,
as part of the celebrations to commemorate a
partnership between Shell and Scuderia
Ferrari that has now reached its five
hundredth Grand Prix. Regarded as one of the
best examples of a technical and commercial
relationship, its history dates back to
1920, when Enzo Ferrari was still a racing
driver. Yesterday, in pit lane, in front of
the Scuderia garage, Shell Downstream
Director Mark Williams presented Scuderia
Team Principal Stefano Domenicali, along
with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, with
a specially commissioned painting by Michael
Turner of the Ferrari 125 F1, that took part
in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix, seen
alongside this year’s F2012. Reflecting the
long history of the partnership, in return,
the Ferrari men presented Shell with a photo
album made out of carbon, featuring photos
that cover the period of the collaboration
from its beginnings to the present day.
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In the
high-tech, highly scientific world of Formula 1 there is
no room for superstition, but people like playing with
numbers and so it was noteworthy that, come the end of
tonight’s qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix,
Fernando Alonso had qualified in fifth place for the
thirteenth time since he joined Scuderia Ferrari. With
all the uncertainties that lurk behind the safety
barriers at any street circuit, that fifth place could
be translated by a man of Fernando’s talent into
something better tomorrow, at the end of 61 inevitably
exciting laps of Marina Bay.
The number 13 also figured in Felipe Massa’s Saturday
evening in Singapore, but less auspiciously than for his
Scuderia team-mate: all weekend long, the Brazilian has
struggled to get his F2012 working to his liking, and
mainly down to tyre problems, he found himself marooned
in Q2, in thirteenth place on the grid. But,
nevertheless, points could well be on the agenda for
Felipe tomorrow in a race where anything can happen.
Strategy is the first factor to look at and, in Massa’s
case, failing to make the top ten means he is free to
choose what tyre to start the race with: Fernando will
have to start on the Supersoft, as that’s what he used
in Q3, but maybe the slightly longer lasting Softs will
prove handy for Massa.
The championship is the main aim come the end of
November and with this in mind, two of Fernando’s
closest rivals start ahead of him: the combination of
Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren was quite simply
unbeatable today, the Englishman lapping around half a
second quicker than anyone else in Q3 to secure pole for
the fifth time this year. Sebastian Vettel, who is
currently fourth in the Drivers’ classification secured
third place on the grid today in his Red Bull, but the
real surprise came from Venezuela, in the shape of
Pastor Maldonaldo. He put in a breathtaking lap in the
Williams to secure the second spot on the front row.
Vettel shares row two with Jenson Button in the second
McLaren, while Fernando has Paul di Resta outside him on
row 3 in the Force India. Felipe shares row 7 with the
Ferrari Driver Academy student, Sergio Perez in the
Sauber.
Stefano Domenicali:
“We knew our performance level would not let us fight
for the very top places on the grid, but nevertheless,
Fernando’s fifth place is a good starting point for
tomorrow’s race. Our driver got the most out of the car,
which definitely does not come as a surprise. Sure, the
gap to pole is significant, but in terms of distance in
metres on the grid, it changes nothing if the gap is a
hundredth or a whole second. Felipe struggled more than
his team-mate, as was also the case yesterday,
especially in terms of tyre performance. Indeed, tyres
will be one of the crucial factors for tomorrow’s race,
given that we can expect a high level of degradation.
Fernando is in with a chance of getting to the podium,
while Felipe can aim for the top ten. It will be a very
hard race for everyone: men and machines will be
subjected to incredible stresses and anything can happen
over the course of two hours. We will have to stay fully
concentrated and make the most of every opportunity.”
Fernando Alonso: “Today, pole position
was absolutely out of our grasp: Hamilton was on another
planet... We must settle for this fifth place but that
doesn’t mean we are not hoping to improve on it
tomorrow: our target is the podium. The result pretty
much matches what we expected after yesterday, given
that right from the afternoon we were not particularly
brilliant. The only surprise this evening was Maldonaldo
and it was really unexpected to see him on the front
row. Here, the performance difference between the two
compounds is probably the highest of the whole
championship; between one and a half and two seconds,
which could be an important factor tomorrow also. It’s
true the Softs can last longer but it’s also true that,
with such a significant difference, the Supersofts could
also be an interesting option. I expect a lot of pit
stops, specifically because of the tyre degradation.
Honestly, before arriving in Singapore, I expected more,
but we soon realised we would be tackling this Grand
Prix on the defensive. The race will be very long, very
hard physically and mentally, because you need to always
concentrate to the maximum, with no margin for error:
the slightest mistake can carry a high price on a track
where the barriers are very close. Reliability will be
very important and the number one priority will be
getting to the finish in the best possible position.”
Felipe Massa: “It was a very difficult
qualifying. I really struggled to put together a good
lap, suffering particularly in the final sector, where
the rear tyres were sliding and, as a result, were
degrading. It’s a problem I’ve had since yesterday and
we did not manage to fix it. Let’s hope we can do
something for the race, otherwise it will be really
hard. We must look carefully at the strategy, starting
with which tyre to use for the start of the race:
there’s a lot of difference in speed between the two
compounds, but both seem to degrade significantly. The
aim will be to finish the race in the points, which
definitely won’t be easy, but we’ll give it our best
shot. Not all the updates we brought here worked as we
had expected and hoped for, which certainly hasn’t
helped. So we must understand why with a view to the
rest of the season.”
Pat Fry: “Honestly, it would have been
difficult to expect more from this qualifying. Of all
the updates we brought here, the only one we did not use
was the rear wing, which still needs more development:
that means we must improve still further the quality of
our work if we want to meet our targets. Clearly, the
circuit characteristics alone are not enough to explain
the difference in performance between us and those who
have been quickest in this part of the season, between
Monza and Singapore: today we saw a driver-car
combination that was absolutely out of reach. We managed
to improve the handling of the F2012, but not enough to
get Felipe into a position from which he could make the
most of the potential he had: unfortunately for him,
thirteenth place on the grid means he is in a
particularly difficult position for tomorrow’s race. A
lot of factors will affect the final outcome of this
weekend, starting with tyre behaviour over a long
distance. Last year, we struggled a lot in this race and
we tried to prepare for it differently this year, even
if it’s never easy to find the right compromise in
set-up between the single lap and a long run. Other
elements to consider will be reliability and strategy.
This race is very tough on machinery and the high
temperatures definitely don’t help. Then we have the
unknown factor of the Safety Car that has always
featured in this Grand Prix. To sum up, there are a lot
of variable to consider when aiming for a useful result
for both championships.”
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