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Scuderia
Ferrari and the other F1 teams are now on the two week
'summer break'. It’s an appropriate time to take a
breather after the first part of the season, which was
run flat out on what was a rollercoaster ride. And once
it restarts, there will be a packed schedule of events
all the way to the end, which comes only on 25 November
in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
There’s palpable satisfaction at having sent Fernando
Alonso off on holiday with a 40 point lead in the
Drivers’ championship, but the overriding sentiment is
that there’s still a lot of work to do to get Felipe and
Fernando to reach the goals set at the start of the
year, especially as they are up against a lot of strong
opposition.
As the break
gets underway Scuderia Ferrari has issued this Q&A
interview with the team's Technical Director pat Fry.
Eleven races completed, time to look back at the
season so far. How do you evaluate the first part of the
championship?
“Obviously, at the start, after the winter tests, we
were a bit behind. I think we learned a lot in this
period and used that later on. We struggled in the early
races: I remember that in Melbourne we were around a
second and a half behind the best. We then put in a huge
effort, in the wind tunnel, the production department
and at the design stages. The entire workforce reacted
to the challenge we faced. In my opinion, we have
overtaken a large part of the other teams in terms of
development over the season: we staged a good recovery,
but there is still a long way to go.”
In Budapest, Fernando spoke of a slight lack of
development over the last few races. Can you explain
more precisely what he meant by that?
“It’s true we had a handful of parts that did not work
the way we had expected: there’s always a chance that
can happen in work like this. The positive aspect is
that we understood the problem and everything is alright
now: that way, we can use this experience to move
forward rather than being left confused about it. In
fact, we have a clear idea on the direction we need to
take and we have already begun to work in this
direction.”
Does that mean these problems should be fixed in
a short space of time?
“Yes I think that when one tries to get to the limit,
one definitely encounters new problems. Now we have a
good understanding of the situation, therefore we only
need to modify our development criteria and continue to
push.”
There are no F1 races in August. What will
happen from today until the race at Spa?
“We were all here this week and we tried to do as much
as possible. We have developed a few small parts for Spa
in the wind tunnel, while also concentrating on other
updates for Singapore. This has been a very tiring week,
but now we have two weeks holiday and that will
certainly see us come back revived. Then we will be
back, giving it our all immediately after the break.”
Personally, what will you be doing during the
two week break, when you are not at work?
“I will go home to England to spend some time with my
family. It will be nice to have more than two days in a
row to spend with my two children.”
You won’t be able to do any actual work, but do
you think you’ll manage to switch off, without thinking
about Formula 1, or will work always be in the back of
your mind?
“I’ll try and do my best not to think about Formula 1
and concentrate on spending time with the family.”
Do you reckon you will manage to recharge your
batteries?
“Yes definitely! The last four, five months have been
very tough for all of us in the Scuderia. So I think
it’s right that we have a break so everyone can recover
and then we will have to come back pushing as hard as we
have been doing all the way to the end of the season.”
When we come back, we tackle the last two races
in Europe, at Spa and Monza, which are very different to
the previous ones. How do you see the situation in these
two races?
“We have a few interesting developments that we will
introduce at Spa, a track which, from an aerodynamic
downforce point of view, is quite special, as indeed is
Monza. In fact, we will also have an aerodynamic and
engine package specifically suited to the Italian track.
Therefore a lot of work has been done, but there is
still also a lot to do: we must continue to keep up the
pressure to a high level.”
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