Ferrari Fernando Alonso Blog : Race Review (2011)

[icegirljenni]

Ten years in Formula 1, the best of my life
March 23, 2011 · Posted by Fernando Alonso



^ ^ ^ Click the above picture to get the to the sources ^ ^ ^

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Quote:Finally, the moment has arrived! I was so impatient to get to the first race and the postponement of the Bahrain Grand Prix made the wait even longer. Yes, it did give the engineers more time to prepare and it meant the work could be done with less haste, but for us drivers, and I think the same applies to all my colleagues, the desire to go racing again is very strong.

It was a very busy winter. After Abu Dhabi, there was not much time to get upset about how the 2010 championship ended. Immediately it was time to role up our sleeves and work on the development of the tyres and on the new car, without thinking too much about what happened. That mishap actually motivated us even more and I am sure that actually, it has made us stronger now. Ferrari is synonymous with passion for racing and all of us are determined to fight back and go for victory.

We have covered so many kilometres in testing and have shown that we have reached a good level of reliability, which is always important. There are reasons to be optimistic, even if we cannot really be sure where we are compared to the others. At the last test, in Barcelona, we introduced a significant number of updates and here in Melbourne we have also brought a newer version of the front wing. We will see if it delivers the expected results, even if I think we will need three or four races to get a clear picture of the situation.

There are so many new things this year, from the moveable rear wing to the return of KERS and especially, the new tyres in the shape of the Pirellis. From what we saw in testing, their degradation is much higher than compared to the Bridgestones: therefore we will see more pit stops and the strategy will be the key to the final result. Qualifying will now be less important, given that an increase in pit stops will add uncertainty to the way the races turn out: our pit stop guys will definitely have more work to do!

These past weeks, there has been a lot of talk about the possible difficulty of managing all the controls we have in the car, especially on the steering wheel. Quite frankly, I don’t think there will be any problems, at least on the safety front. When all is said and done, we are professional drivers and we have to be capable of adapting to any situation. Even when it comes to running the moveable rear wing, I don’t think there will be problems. It seems like a good idea to me, but obviously it is too early to say if it will really make overtaking easier and lead to more excitement. We will start to get an idea this Sunday afternoon.

I arrived in Melbourne on Monday evening, after a very long journey, the longest of the year. I am happy to be starting the season here, because without wishing to take anything away from Bahrain, for many years this was the first race and the atmosphere here is particularly nice and everything feels very familiar, while the racing is usually full of incident and uncertainty, with the safety car usually playing its part. I won here in 2006 and made it to the podium a further three teams, so let’s hope we can repeat that.

It was here ten years ago, that I first set out on the Formula 1 path. I have spent twenty six of my twenty nine years behind a steering wheel, controlling four wheels and ten of those, the best of them, have been spent in the blue riband category. I never would have thought that things would have turned out this way and I have achieved so much more than I had hoped for when I was little. Now I want to continue and for a long time too, trying to have even better years in the future!

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[Chrissie]

An uphill start but no dramas

March 28, 2011 · Posted by Fernando Alonso

Quote:It wasn’t the start that we all wanted but nor is it anything to get worried about. I already said it yesterday evening at the track: 12 points is not far below the world champion’s average last year and two title contenders finished behind me. So overall the Australian Grand Prix can’t be defined as disastrous. Certainly, in qualifying we were very far from Vettel’s Red Bull and far from Hamilton’s McLaren but in the race the situation improved – perhaps not compared to Sebastian but certainly against the others. The start was a pity: if I hadn’t found myself down in 9th place at the beginning of the first lap I’d have been able to fight to the finish for the two lower steps of the podium.

I’m not one of those who believes a degree of temperature here or there can determine major changes in the performance of the car on the track. So I don’t agree that the fact that yesterday was hotter compared to Saturday necessarily played into our favour. On Friday, when temperatures were similar to those during qualifying, the car went very well. The next day, from the morning, it wasn’t so good and we have to understand why that happened by carefully analysing the data.

For me there weren’t any big surprises this weekend, particularly because I didn’t arrive in Melbourne with a clear idea of how the grid would line up. From the tests, especially this year, it was difficult to have a realistic picture of the situation. The only positive surprise was the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres which, at least at Albert Park, showed less degradation than what we saw at the test. We will see how things go in Malaysia at Sepang, on a track that is very different to the semi-street circuit of Albert Park.

I’ve stayed in Australia and I will remain here until the beginning of next week, when I will head to Malaysia. It’s important to prepare very well for the next two rounds, which are back-to-back. They are both very demanding from the physical point of view, especially Sepang where we drive in very high temperatures.

Source: Ferrari.com

[icegirljenni]

Thanks Chrissie!

[ali786]

A weekend to tackle one day at a time-April 6, 2011


I arrived in Malaysia a few days ago, having stayed a while in Australia, on Hamilton Island. I decided to stay in this part of the world so as to be used to the local time zone, given we now take on two races in the Far East, first in Sepang and then in Shanghai. It’s important to get used to the weather conditions, especially here where the temperatures are around the 30 °C mark and, much more significantly, it’s very humid. I have done some sport, because it’s essential to keep training: in this race you lose a lot of liquid and it’s very tough driving in these conditions, so you need to be on top form to tackle the weekend properly. Being 100% ready in this respect can make all the difference on Sunday afternoon as even on a mental level, this race is very special.

The fact that the weather can change so quickly here makes the preparation work for the various phases of work on track more stressful. Suddenly it can go from sunshine to a short sharp shower and you need to be prepared for every eventuality. It’s not just a problem for us drivers, as its affects the whole team: in some cases you need to be ready with a plan B or C, or even maybe a D for all the various scenarios!

Luckily it’s not all been work, as I was able to have some fun too which is good as it helps you unwind at such a busy time: from the start of testing there hasn’t been much of a break in this bit of the season.

I stayed in touch with the engineers, via email and phone. We re-examined the way the weekend had gone in Melbourne and we discussed our preparations for here in Sepang. We know we have to improve our performance level, but we are equally aware that in the end, the race result was not such a disaster. We will have a few minor updates on the car, but nothing very significant, or the sort of thing you could say would be the key to take a leap forward in performance terms. I believe we must stay concentrated on our own work and try to understand how to get all the potential out of the 150° Italia and I’m sure there’s plenty to come. Before we achieve that, it’s pointless standing here making predictions about how the weekend will turn out. We just have to tackle it one day at a time.

My happiest memory of Sepang circuit goes back to my first ever pole position, which I secured on 22 March 2003. Neither myself, nor my team, Renault, had expected that sort of result on Saturday morning, but come the end of qualifying, we found ourselves with both cars on the front row. It was a very happy moment and I can still clearly remember how the afternoon went, then the dinner and Sunday morning, when I was thinking about what would happen in the race. Every time I come back here, I think of that weekend, at the happiness of taking pole and the feeling of trepidation going into the race. I did not win, as later happened in 2005 and 2007, but I was still third and so managed to jump up on the podium for the first time. It was definitely a weekend to remember for a long time!

[WiTcH]

thanks for sharing! I remember that weekend too...and that pole...

[Chrissie]

In China to seize every opportunity

April 13, 2011 · Posted by Fernando Alonso

Quote:I arrived in Shanghai this morning. Two days relaxing were much needed after what was a very tough weekend in Sepang and now I’m ready for the second race in as many weekends, which also brings to an end the first run of Grands Prix outside Europe. I was disappointed not to get to the podium in Malaysia, as it was within my reach and it would have been a great result. It would also have been useful in terms of being a nice morale booster. Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we wanted and we paid a very heavy price for the failure on the system that runs the moveable rear wing. I know that the engineers, with whom I’ve been in touch a lot over these past days, have discovered the problem and fixed it. If the system had worked, I could comfortably have got past Hamilton on the pit straight and I would not have found myself having to fight him wheel to wheel and taking risks. What happened is part of racing and you have to accept it: I was quicker than him and so I had to try and pass, otherwise I would have been caught by those behind us. As for the penalty I was given, I already said on Sunday night in Sepang, I don’t want to talk about it because it changes nothing.

As we had already seen in Australia, once again in Malaysia, our race pace was much better than that in qualifying. In Sepang, both Felipe and I were running at a pace good enough to get to the podium and that was an important indication, even if we did not end up getting all we could have done. Clearly, I would like to always be fighting for the win but, at the moment, one car, Vettel’s Red Bull, seems to be out of reach.

In Maranello, the engineers are working a lot to try and improve the performance of the 150º Italia. In Shanghai, we are due to try a new front wing and a few other aero updates: let’s hope they bring us something, but we will have to evaluate them very carefully in Friday’s practice. Our aim in this Grand Prix will be similar to the one in Malaysia, which means to make the best of qualifying and try to exploit any opportunity that comes our way during the race. It should be much cooler this weekend than in Sepang, more like what we experienced in Melbourne. Starting on Friday, we will see how the tyres behave and once again we have the Hard as the Prime compound and the Soft as the Option. Malaysia produced a different situation to the first race but we still need to work out how much was down to the temperatures and how much to the nature of the circuits, in terms of their layout and surface.

I spoke to President Montezemolo after the Malaysian race: he was not happy and why would he be, as I was not either. We know we need to react quickly to make up the gap to the championship leader. It’s true that if you compare the situation after the first two races of 2010 with this year, we are a long way behind: back then, yours truly was in the lead and Vettel was quite a way off, but it’s also true that, if you take into consideration the individual races in Australia and Malaysia, I have got eight points more than was the case last year. It’s a bit of a game, but it’s also a way to understand that there are different ways of looking at things, even direct opposites. Also not to be taken seriously was the joke our President made about a hypothetical fantasy government made up of drivers: I thank him for having thought of me for the role of premier, but I’d rather stick to racing!

Source:ferrari.com

[WiTcH]

Thanks for posting Chrissie!

[Chrissie]

Never give up: things can change very quickly in Formula 1

April 22, 2011 · Posted by Fernando Alonso

Quote:A break was much needed after such a packed start to the season. I had not been home for a month, given that I stayed out in that part of the world between Australia and Malaysia, so it’s nice to have a bit of free time with the family and close friends. Truth is there’s always something to do because you need to keep in shape, given that after this slightly longer than usual break we will face a really busy May, with three Grands Prix – Turkey, Spain and Monaco – in the space of four weeks.

It was definitely not the start of the season we were hoping for, for us and all our fans. Fifty points between the two of us is not much and we know our performance is not good enough at the moment, but we are aware that this can change very quickly. Formula 1 has always been like this: in one race you struggle to get into the top five and in the next, you’re fighting for the win. This year has been no exception to that rule: after the final test in Barcelona, everyone reckoned the McLarens were nowhere and then they always got on the podium, ending up with a win in China. At the same time, others were saying Vettel was unbeatable and then in Shanghai, we all saw how things turned out in the end. Three races are not yet enough to give a definitive judgement.

But this does not mean to say I am underestimating the seriousness of our situation, far from it. We have to work very hard to improve on every front. Success only comes when every element is operating at its best: the car, strategy, pit stops, drivers and everyone else included. I’ve stayed in touch with the engineers these past few days and I know there is no let up in the development of the car at Maranello. We have to catch up and we cannot allow ourselves to lose too much time, especially as the others won’t be twiddling their thumbs over the coming weeks. I trust in the team: I know what it’s made of and I can feel the will to fight back from everyone at Maranello. In the past I have experienced, first as an opponent and then as an insider how capable the Scuderia is of staging a comeback. I well remember when I was at Renault in 2006, that in the first part of the season I had built up a big lead but then Ferrari made such a good job of developing its cars that Schumacher staged a great fight back, overtaking me with two races remaining. Then you only have to look at last year: first in Turkey and then in England, it was suggested we should already be looking to the following year, but we did not give up and we managed to be in the fight for the title right up to the final race. It sounds like a slogan, but it’s the absolute truth: never give up in Formula 1!

If the racing season has yet to make me very happy, at least on the football front there’s been one bit of good news. I was very happy that Real Madrid won against Barcelona in the final of the Copa del Rey, as it’s a title that has eluded them for such a long time and it came at the end of a very closely fought game. Next up comes the Champions League semi-final, again against Barca. Whatever the outcome, it will be a truly fascinating tussle and obviously I’m hoping for a win for Mourinho’s team!

Source: ferrari.com

[icegirljenni]

Ah hah see he just said that, things can change pretty quickly in Formula 1

Thanks for posting it Chrissie

[WiTcH]

Yeah I read the quote today. We hope so Fernando. We hope so...

[GQgirl]

with FERNANDO ALONSO, we win F1 @ TURKEY,
a good place to be


way to go, Nando !

[Chrissie]

We must keep going down this road

May 11, 2011 · Posted by Fernando Alonso

Quote:It’s been a long week of work, starting on Tuesday May 3 with a session on the simulator. It has only just finished today as we kept working with the engineers to prepare as well as we can for the coming races. In between came the grand prix in Istanbul, where we took our first podium of the year. It was about time because we’d missed out on finishing a race in the top three for too long, but what was especially important was to fight for the top places until the end. That already happened in China with Felipe and in the two previous races we were also close to the podium: finally we have now achieved what we were capable of.

Third place was also important for the morale of the team. We were all unhappy with a start to the season that did not live up to expectations and we know how much good it does to see that the efforts expended every day are paying off. But we certainly can’t be happy with a third place and what matters most is that we must be much more competitive in qualifying. If we always start from the third row or lower it’s a struggle to fight for the podium. We have a lot of irons in the fire and we hope that as early as next week in Barcelona we will have new parts that allow us to take an important step forward in qualifying as well.

You know I like playing with numbers – and as I travelled backwards and forwards between home, Maranello and Turkey, I made a comparison between my first four races of last year and those of this year in the corresponding grands prix. What came out of this little game was that compared to 2010 I’m eight points short (49 versus 41) but in the same four races, this year I’ve brought home 13 more points compared to last year (41 versus 28). It’s true that my current gap to the top of the drivers championship is much greater (52 points) compared to what I had after Shanghai 2010 (11 points) but I well recall that after Silverstone we were 47 points away and we only had eight races left. Today we still have 15 grands prix to come. This shows that you can look at the same thing in two different, even completely opposite ways. What matters are results and we’ve started to make the podium: we must do that regularly and if so I’m convinced that we will again be able to fight for the title.

On Sunday morning in Istanbul there was a serious accident in the GP2 race, which involved our driver, Davide Rigon. I’m very sorry for him as he will have to stop racing for a while. We hope that he recovers soon – and I say that also for selfish reasons because he was doing precious work for us in the simulator.

Now I’m returning home: a few days of rest before a very demanding double-header made up of Barcelona, one of my home races, and Monaco. Now we hope to keep going down the road we took in Turkey.

[Chrissie]

Emm ok sorry guys, somehow I missed this one released just before the Spanish GP but for completeness I will post it

We’ll see who’s been the cleverest in the development championship

May 18, 2011 · Posted by Fernando Alonso

Quote:Here we are with the Spanish Grand Prix just round the corner, a race that has a special feel about it for me. I will arrive in Barcelona tonight, because right from tomorrow morning I’ve got an appointment in my diary: attending the launch of the first ever Ferrari Store to be opened in Spain, in the heart of the Catalan capital, on one of the most important streets in the city, Paseo de Gracia. Felipe will be there, as will Marc who will be very much the main man given he is from Barcelona. Then it will be time to head off to the track for the usual Thursday jobs, most of them dealing with media work.

It’s always nice to race in Spain. I love the feeling of warmth one gets from the fans right from the very first free practice sessions. Day after day, you can see the grandstands fill with flags – the red of Ferrari and the azure blue of my compatriots from Asturias – and that is a special feeling for me. My win here in 2006 is still one of the best moments of my career and it would be a dream come true to do it again with Ferrari sooner or later.

I know that you all want to know if that might happen already this weekend, but I am not able to give you an answer to that. On paper, we do not yet have the potential to be in a straight fight for the win, with one team clearly the favourite in this regard. However, we know things can change quickly in our sport and, in Turkey, finally we managed to bring home a podium finish. The road is still long, but I believe we have at least started down it going in the right direction.

These past few days, the team has worked so hard in Maranello on developing the 150° Italia and in order to be as well prepared as possible for these two back to back races, given that next week will be back on track in Monaco. During the days I spent in the factory I could feel that everyone there really wants to fight back: the feeling is so strong you can almost touch it, whether you are speaking with people in meetings or as you walk around the Gestione Sportiva. Both Felipe and I have done so many kilometres in the simulator and we feel that the updates being introduced will see us make progress in terms of performance. Whether or not this will be enough to close the gap to the best, we will only find out over the weekend, because we cannot ignore the fact that the others have not been twiddling their thumbs. We will see who has been the cleverest in the development championship.

The Catalunya Circuit is one of the ones we know best because traditionally it is a favourite venue for winter testing. This year, we have already had two sessions there, one at the end of February and the other in early March.

This means we will all arrive there with a pretty good idea of what settings we will use as a baseline on the car to start the weekend, even if the conditions we will encounter will be very different, especially in terms of temperature.

It will be very important to run continuously in Friday’s two free practice sessions to fine tune the car and check out the behaviour of the new technical components. It will also be vital to study the performance and wear of the tyres. In the race simulations we did during testing we saw significant degradation, especially on the front left tyre, which is put under major stress: we will see if, with different temperatures, that situation changes. Compared to previous races at this track I think we will see more overtaking, especially down to the difference in tyre performance that could be a factor during the race: further reason to come to the track to watch the Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon. It would be nice to jump on the podium again and be able to salute all our fans from there: as far as me and the team are concerned, as usual, we will be giving it our very best shot.

And now the most recent one...

I tried to the very end

May 30, 2011 · Posted by Fernando Alonso

Quote:I arrived in Maranello late this morning and in the afternoon, I was involved in some PR activities. I also got the chance to meet two of our young FDA drivers, Raffaele Marciello and Brandon Maisano, who were at Fiorano for a Formula 3 test. Then, I headed off for Parma where tonight I am playing in the “Partita del Cuore” (game of the heart) a three-way football tournament which is raising funds for the Telethon charity.

Over twenty four hours have passed since the end of the Monaco Grand Prix and I certainly haven’t changed my mind. Yesterday we had a real chance of taking our first win of the season and the interruption following the accident with Petrov and Alguersuari robbed us of the chance of trying to the very end. In the second part of the race, after the pit stop, I tried to save the tyres specifically to be prepared for the closing laps, when I hoped I’d be able to make the most of it if Sebastian had any difficulties with his tyres, given he’d been on the same set for many laps. Unfortunately, that plan went out the window, but you have to accept it, because we know that situations like the one we saw in Monaco yesterday happen quite often.

Immediately after the race, I said the fight for the title was getting ever more difficult, not to say impossible. Sure, if Vettel ends up winning a race in which we felt there was a chance of victory, then you get a feeling of disappointment, but that does not mean will not continue working hard at the track and back home on developing the car. Clearly the gap in the championship is widening all the time: we can do the maths, but neither myself nor the team are used to throwing in the towel. Already today, I’ve been talking to the engineers about the new parts we will have in Montreal, but above all, of the steps forward we must take for Silverstone, when we will back at a track which requires a lot of aerodynamic downforce. That’s where we will really see how our season is going to pan out. Up until then, we want to and we must believe in ourselves.

I am pleased to hear that Sergio Perez has already left the Monaco hospital this afternoon. He had a truly horrible accident and the fact he came out of it almost unscathed is a clear indication of the progress made in terms of Formula 1 car safety. You can never do away with the risks completely, but they can be significantly reduced for the drivers and for all those who work at the track.

[icegirljenni]

Thank you Chrissie!

[Chrissie]

Luck and bad luck balance out

June 20, 2011 · Posted by Fernando Alonso

Quote:In a few days, the European Grand Prix weekend gets underway. It’s the second race of the season held in Spain and it is an important one for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro and for me, as it presents another opportunity for me to race in front of my fans. To tell the truth, I’ve never been that lucky in this race since it’s been held on the Valencia street circuit, especially last year when, despite having a very competitive car, I finished down in eighth place. However, everyone remembers what happened with the appearance of the Safety Car and there’s no point going over it again. I always believe that luck and bad luck balance out by the end of the season and maybe this unwritten rule also applies to race tracks. If that’s the case, I would be more than happy if last year’s misfortune was paid back now! In fact, it seems that in general so far this season, luck has not come our way: in the race in Montreal, not one damned thing went right.

I know that our fans are eagerly awaiting our first win of the season and I can assure you that the same goes for us. At the last two races, we showed we were clearly capable of winning and, especially in Monaco, we came pretty close, although I believe that even in Canada I could have fought for it all the way to the end, given what we had seen in qualifying. Now we go to a track with reasonably similar characteristics to Montreal and there is no obvious reason why we should not be competitive here too. The 150º Italia will be pretty much in the same configuration seen at the last race and the major new element will be the race debut of the Pirelli Medium compound tyre, running alongside the Soft. Over the winter, I got the chance to test this tyre, but now it will be a completely different ball game, given that the difference in temperature compared to February and March will be of the order of 20 degrees and because the Valencia track characteristics definitely cannot be compared to those of Jerez and Barcelona, nor to the permanent track at Cheste, around twenty kilometres from the city centre. In Montreal, we were able to assess these tyres during the two free practice sessions on Friday, but it’s one thing to do a few laps on a track that is not necessarily that well adapted to this type of tyre and quite another to evaluate it in depth with an eye on qualifying and the race.

I feel special ties to the city of Valencia as it has become something of a symbolic place in the history of my relationship with Ferrari. It was in fact in Cheste that I made my first public appearance after having signed my first contract with Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, at the 2009 Ferrari Days event and it was also at this track that I had my first official drive of a Formula 1 Ferrari, on 3 February last year. Well, maybe that means it’s time to add another “first” to this story…And actually, I have already won the European Grand Prix twice before, when the race was run at the Nurburgring: as the saying goes, “never two without three…”

Couldn't help but laugh at the "not one damned thing went right" comment....not sure why, I guess because I find it difficult to imagine him ever actually saying that

[Tension_36th]

I am very sure this is not written or said by Alonso, a person cant a have a different style when it comes to sharing thoughts in written format compared to spoken English. Especially Alonso's take on analogies of certain things to the press on the tele are always Spanish sayings and phrases, even though he tells them in English.

This has to be the the work of a brit who works for Ferrari's PR department. The driver gets know what is posted though.

[Chrissie]

Yes tension that was my point exactly...if they're going to get someone to write it for him they should at least try to disguise the fact that it isn't him a little better

[WiTcH]

haha! yes, not Fernando. Those managers and teams' people should do their job better.

[Chrissie]

A meeting with Ferrari’s past in Maranello

June 29, 2011 · Posted by Fernando Alonso

Quote:Finally, a bit of time off! After the Valencia weekend, I went straight to Maranello where I spent two packed days both on the technical and the promotional front. This morning I went back home to relax for a few days before setting off again for the next Grand Prix, in England this time, at Silverstone.

With the team, we went back over the last race and the short and long term development plans. I take away good memories from Valencia. It was a positive weekend, especially the race. In fact it meant I filled a gap in my trophy collection, but the best part of it was seeing again the delight of the crowd when I passed Mark, first on track and then at the pit stop: racing in Spain is always something special!

It is a key time in the season. We are moving forward, as could be seen in the last three races, but now we must also confirm the progress seen at Monaco, Montreal and Valencia on a track with completely different characteristics, which is definitely more suited to our main rivals. At Silverstone, you need a lot of aerodynamic downforce and this is area where we are lagging behind. We will have some new parts, but there’s a step from that to saying we will have made up the difference…Maybe! We must be realistic and accept that it’s not possible that in less than two months – the time past since the Barcelona race – we have closed the gap that was seen at the Catalunya circuit. It wasn’t a whole lap, because that was down to the way the race panned out, but it was definitely bigger than what we have seen in the last three races. We must continue to work on improving the car and then I am sure the win will come. When? I don’t have a crystal ball to be able to give a definite answer.

In Maranello, I had the opportunity to meet a driver who has been part of the history of Formula 1 and of Ferrari, John Surtees. We took part in a promotional event organised by our technical partner Shell and he was very interesting to talk to, comparing our experiences as drivers and, above all, talking about our lives with a special team like Ferrari. It’s nice to meet people who can give you a first hand account of what Formula 1 was like back then!

Today, the team told me about Pirelli’s tyre choices for the coming three races. At the British Grand Prix, we will be running the Soft and the Hard, the same choice that featured in the early stages of the championship. Okay, for us that means one more challenge, namely being able to make all types of tyre work as well as possible. Anyway, the tyre choice is the same for everyone and there’s no point discussing if the pair of compounds chosen is more suited to one team or another. It’s up to the teams to adjust the cars to get the best out of the tyres both in terms of performance and life.

He seems to be as excited about the prospect of a Ferrari on hard tyres as I am

[WiTcH]

I was coming to post a part of this interview that I read and saw you already posted it... Well, I believe that it will be a hard weekend for Ferrari. I mean, that is the truth although Fernando cannot say it directly, because he and Ferrari have many fans and want to give them hope. So, he kinda believes they are going to improve. We shall see...
P.S. And that crystal ball, maybe it is a good solution Fernando. I shall lend you mine.