Alonso out in the Spanish sun for a weekend of testing.
By Roberto Motta
Photos: Ferrari-Media
Thursday and Friday 10-11 February, 2011 Massa Up
Andalusian circuit of Jerez de la Frontera; F1 testing take two. Felipe Massa started testing in the early morning at the wheel of of his Ferrari F150 Italia. The Brazilian driver’s program has the same objectives as last week at Valencia; finding the best set-up for the car, increasing understanding of the Pirelli tyres behaviour, aerodynamic testing and starts.
Massa goes out for his two day run. The car is almost beautiful from this angle.
During the first day under sunny skies that warmed up the Jerez de la Frontera track, Felipe was able to complete the planned program without any technical problems affecting the car. He did 101 laps, and his best lap was 1.20.709, the fastest overall on the day. At the end of the day, Felipe said, “I am pleased with today. I was able to run continuously, without losing any valuable time. All those kilometres helped me get to know the car better and especially the tires, an area where we were able to try different things to those we did in Valencia”.
Back into the garage, tire tests over for a day.
During the test, the technical package on the car was identical to that used in Valencia while the singleseater showed new livery with the ‘Ferrari World Abu Dhabi’ logo. Felipe’s car, along with all the others, carried a message of support for Robert Kubica, that read “Szybkiego powrotu do zdrowia Robert,”(Come back soon Robert!). “I am glad Robert is getting better” said Felipe, “and it was nice that we all had a note for him on our cars. I wish all the very best.”
Massa in a better mood that at Valenica. His testing went without incident.
During the second testing day, 11 February, Felipe completed 66 laps and his best lap was 1.20.413; only Schumacher had done better, stopping the clocks in 1.20.352. In the morning, Felipe continued the comparison between all the four types of the Pirelli tires, while in the afternoon, he did long runs of several consecutive laps.
Massa during testing.
At the end of the testing days, Felipe completed 217 laps and was pleased for the reliability of the car. “We have to try and understand the handling of the car as well as possible, but clearly, when it comes to the rear wing, we still don’t know how it will work in an overtaking situation. So, it is important to have a reliable car to make the most of the time available”.
Saturday 12 February, Alonso up.
Alonso's helmet with the Kubica image. All the drivers had some sort of good luck message for Kubica.
There were a lot of fans in attendance to see the new Ferrari and Alonso began driving shortly after nine a.m., concentrating mainly on a comparison between all four types of tires brought here by Pirelli for this test. During the morninig Fernando stopped the clock at 1.20.493 and completed 49 laps, while in the afternoon, he worked on doing some long distance runs completing a total of 131 laps. Alonso wanted show support to his Polish friend, Robert Kubica, and he is running with an image on his helmet which is a copy of that used by Robert.
Spanish countryside much like California's. Alonso up.
At the end of test Alonso said “It is very important to be able to do so many kilometres one after the other, without experiencing any problems,” and continued, “I already said it in Valencia and I repeat it now: we must not think about what the others teams are doing, in terms of times. It is better to focus on our own efforts and then we can see where we are in Bahrain in a month’s time.”
Alonso again, before the rains came, just in time to test wet Pirellis.
Sunday was the fourth and final day of testing for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro and ten other Formula 1 teams engaged on the track in Jerez. Alonso worked on the comparison of different solutions depending on the set of Pirelli tires. During the morning he completed 72 laps and his best lap was 1.21.074. The weather was cloudy in the afternoon and Alonso continued to lap covering 115 laps.
Just in the last few minutes of the day came a downpour that gave present the great opportunity to finally try the Pirelli rain tires for the first time. At the end of the test session, Fernando Alonso was third fastest for Ferrari at the wheel of the new F150th Italia, and behind him was Sebastien Buemi in the Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso, the Swiss driver concentrating on aero evaluations and general set-up of the new STR6.
Two happy drivers at the end of four days of testing. Alonso happy to be in Spain, no doubt.
The next official F1 test takes place at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya on February 18-21. This time Fernando Alonso will start the first two days before being replaced by Felipe Massa for the last two.
Unofficial Thursday test times from Jerez:
1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:20.709
2. Sergio Perez, Sauber, 1:21.483
3. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:21.522
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso, 1:21.755
5. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:21.914
6. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 1:22.689
7. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:23.472
8. Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 1:23.504
9. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:23.963
10. Jarno Trulli, Lotus, 1:24.458
11. Timo Glock, Virgin, 1:25.086
12. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:34.968
Unofficial Friday test times from Jerez:
1. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:20.352
2. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:20.413
3. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:21.009
4. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 1:21.214
5. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:21.613
6. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:21.780
7. Sergio Perez, Sauber, 1:21.857
8. Timo Glock, Virgin, 1:22.208
9. Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 1:22.493
10. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:22.591
11. Jarno Trulli, Lotus, 1:23.216
Unofficial Saturday test times from Jerez:
1. Nick Heidfeld, Renault, 1:20.361, 86 laps
2. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:20.493, 131
3. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:21.054, 114
4. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:21.099, 36
5. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1:21.242, 84
6. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1:21.574, 98
7. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:21.681, 92
8. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus, 1:21.711, 61
9. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:22.227, 99
10. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:22.945, 64
11. Jerome d’Ambrosio, Virgin, 1:25.471, 72
Unofficial Sunday test times from Jerez:
1. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:19.832
2. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1:20.601
3. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:21.074
4. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:21.213
5. Bruno Senna, Renault, 1:21.400
6. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus, 1:21.632
7. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:22.103
8. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1:22.222
9. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:22.278
10. Jerome d’Ambrosio, Virgin, 1:22.985
11. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:23.111