Ferrari Fernando Alonso Blog : Race Review

[icegirljenni]

Australian Grand Prix

Calm and concentrated: in Melbourne we're starting from square one.

Quote:I've been in Australia for a couple of days already. I came directly here from Bahrain to relax a bit before the two consecutive races in Melbourne and Malaysia and now I'm ready for the season's second race. I stayed in contact with the team these days and I know that they worked hard in Maranello to get ready for the race. The one-two win in Sakhir gave us confidence and was a great result for the hard work during the winter on the track and at the works, but we can't take anything for granted. We have to stay with our feet on the ground, keeping calm and staying concentrated: in Melbourne we're starting from square one. Nothing has changed for me: there are four teams and eight drivers who can fight for victory and we have to give it our all to stay ahead of everybody else.

I like the Albert Park track. It's quite a technical circuit with some pretty interesting corners. Overtaking has never been easy and what is even more important now, like on all city circuits, is the result in the qualifying. We have to see how the tyres behave with different fuel loads and temperatures, which will be different from the ones we had during testing and in Bahrain. I think that many of us have given some hot headed comments immediately after the race in Bahrain. It's true that the race in Sakhir wasn't especially spectacular – although for us Ferraristi it was great and exciting – but it's too early to talk about changing the rules. We have to wait and see different races and check the situation, without being emotional. Something that confuses the fans is changing the rules all the time.

The weekend in Melbourne is one of my preferred ones for the atmosphere at the paddock and in the city. It's really special and it seems that everybody is following the event. There's lots of action on the track and it's good to see so many people on the grandstands. Let's hope we can provide a good show to our fans, for more great satisfaction.

Sources : http://www.ferrari.com

[GQgirl]

Alonso always gives terrific interviews. He's very thorough & conscientious. A high performer & all inspiring. Great team player, great leader.

Thanks for the post,IGJenni
These are the type of interviews, solely and wholly Alonso, I love reading.

HE ACES IT

[icegirljenni]

You're welcome my dear

[icegirljenni]

Pleased and proud of this start to the season ( 29th March 2010 )

Quote:It’s been an incredible start to the season. Both in Bahrain and then again in Australia this weekend just gone, we showed we are competitive at the highest level and we can only be pleased and proud of what we have done so far, not just at the track, but also back at the factory over the winter. The F10 has proved to be very good, even on a semi-street circuit like Albert Park. It’s an easy car to drive, something I was aware of right from the very first test in Valencia and it is reasonably easy to find a good set-up for any type of track. On top of that, it is very consistent, in that its handling doesn’t change much between qualifying and the race. That should be a very important factor over the course of the year, as there is a world of difference between trying to do a quick time with a minimum fuel load on Saturday afternoon and starting the race with a full tank on Sunday. Add in the factor that the car is not too hard on its tyres – yesterday, both Felipe and I did 50 laps on the same set of soft tyres – and that completes the package. I’m not too sure exactly where we are compared to the others, but one thing’s for sure, we’ve definitely got off on the right foot.

I definitely didn’t think I’d be leading the championship after two races and this situation is way more than I had expected. In Melbourne, we made the most of a situation which, after the first corner, seemed to be compromised. We managed to increase our lead over those we reckon to be our main competition in the fight for the title. But there’s no time to relax, because in a few days time we will once again be on track for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The race is held on what is definitely one of my very favourite circuits: there are all sorts of corners and it’s a real joy to drive a Formula 1 car in Sepang, because you can really push it to the limit. I can’t wait to be racing in Malaysia for the first time at the wheel of a Ferrari. Our target? That’s easy, to carry on doing what we have done in the first two races. It won’t be easy, but we must trust in our ability to get the job done.

sources : http://www.ferrari.com

[Chrissie]

Quote:it’s a real joy to drive a Formula 1 car in Sepang

I don't imagine he's thinking that tonight though

Thanks, jenni

[Tension_36th]

Don't you get the feeling those are not Fernando's words at all? Its blatantly doctored and paraphrased for him by the PR dept. This is not his style of English nor is he that strong in his command over English.

[icegirljenni]

Ferrari website always attach a blog that come from drivers, what are you talking about tension? I have been following the blog from Kimi, in finnish version as well as in english, thats all provided by Ferrari.

[Chrissie]

I imagine its basically his words just tidied up for the sake of PR

[Chrissie]

Quote:Finally at home!
April 6, 2010 · Posted by Fernando Alonso
Finally I'm back at home! I left on 8 March for Bahrain and was on the road until last night, for what was probably the longest journey of the season. I'm glad being back in Europe, especially because the result of this season's start if definitely positive. Despite the negative outcome of the race in Sepang it's a dream to be on the second place in the standings just two points behind the leader, who is also my teammate and that Ferrari is leading the Constructors' standings.

We had a very difficult weekend in Malaysia. It's a pity, because we had very high expectations and as far as our performance level was concerned we had the confirmation that our expectations are justified. We made a bad evaluation mistake in the qualifying and we paid for it in the race, where we also had reliability problems. Something like this can happen to anyone and we have to learn our lesson so we don't repeat certain mistakes.

I'm not worried about the reliability. I think that what provoked the engine failure was a one-off and the team told me that there is no connection to the problems Sauber had and none to the anomalies we had before we changed the engines on Sunday in Bahrain. As far as the performance is concerned, we were also competitive in Malaysia. Sepang was a track with different characteristics compared to the previous two and the F10 showed that it could adapt itself very well. We still have to improve benefiting from the tyres on the first timed lap, but the pace in the race is very good.

We now have a week of preparations for the Chinese GP ahead of us. This is a good occasion for us drivers to charge the batteries, while the team will work on some new elements, which might be brought to China, making the car faster. I think that the F10 adapts itself very well to the Shanghai circuit's characteristics and we can be optimistic. During the next races we have to try to get on the podium: being constantly amongst the top three means to be in a good position for the fight for the title.

[maranellored]

Quote:Finally at home!
April 6, 2010 · Posted by Fernando Alonso
Finally I'm back at home! I left on 8 March for Bahrain and was on the road until last night, for what was probably the longest journey of the season.

Wow......Fernando being open and honest.....strange....he's a very non-of-your-business type of man!

Quote:I'm glad being back in Europe, especially because the result of this season's start if definitely positive. Despite the negative outcome of the race in Sepang it's a dream to be on the second place in the standings just two points behind the leader, who is also my teammate and that Ferrari is leading the Constructors' standings.

Mmmm It's all a bit (as we say in the UK) towing the party line..........

Quote:I'm not worried about the reliability.

I am!!

Quote:I think that the F10 adapts itself very well to the Shanghai circuit's characteristics and we can be optimistic.

I don't!!! The Red Bulls will almost certainly be front row and race winners...........

On a positive note, I like the new blog!!

[Tension_36th]

Yes that has a lot of PR written all over it. This is not the real Fernando we have known for years, this is the prancing donkey's PR handy work. The last time a driver (Prost) told Ferrari they had a 'truck' for a car, they sacked him. They are just spineless wimps who don't like being told the truth. Its only expected Fernando won't say his real views on the team blunders of late. We saw how mad he got when Renault screwed up his races. But now its all honky dory. Its unfortunate but now he is being babied.

Ferrari are too smug to acknowledge Redbull had everyone's arse handed to them handily. They are simply too strong in qualifying and in the races they haven't even shown their full potential on the ultimate fastest laps possible because they are in the lead and they don't have to push unless needed.

Mclaren have shown they have caught up and perhaps even passed Ferrari on pure pace. Mercedes and Renault are catching up.

Have to point out that the gear box was completely redesigned to be smaller and it had problems in testing not as much as the teams having trouble with their parts but the gear boxes have failed in the tests. These are new parts. As for the engines they have tried to increase the air pressure into the engine from the airbox which does some little help in improving combustion process and get a bit more worth out of a fixed amount of fuel expenditure. In simple terms: improve mileage by a small amount. The bad side to it is that this increases stress on the engines.

Their real fix to these issues is a complete block redesign but that is not going to happen (homologation). If they want they can reduce power and extend the life which allows it to take more brunt. But that means loss in laptiimes. They dont have the redbull advantage to make that compromise they would have do so already if they could and we would see that on that on their engine cover designs. They will keep it to their engine's limits as it is currently because without which they will fall behind the others who are catching up. There will be more Ferrari engines blown it could be for anyone of them Sauber or STR or Ferrari.

Sauber must have had something in it to take on Ferrari engines. There was no real incentive on taking an engine that consumed more fuel. A very attractive pricing? Could may well be the thing that made Peter Sauber go with Ferrari engines.

[Sunny]

Thanks Jenni, Chrissie and Tension_36th Renault F1 or McLaren limits seems to be lower than Ferrari's one !!
I can't imagine RedBull reliability higher than Ferrari's one the problem appears more about the aerodynamical advantage from RedBull

[Tension_36th]

Rebull's worries were engines. But what failed where Brake and spark plug which are more rare. This happened to them at worst possible time when they need to be racking in the points early season. But thanks to the new points system Vettel has jumped right back into the title hunt.

Ferrari engines are not just the work's team's problem it is also their customer's. So more worries for them than Redbull's position.

[maranellored]

Martin Brundle posted a blog on BBCF1 this week about how ominous the win for Vettel is and that basically he'll win the WDC.

To be honest, as much as Alonso's new found optimism is refreshing, I have to agree with him.

Reliability isn't about cars - it's about luck and RB have had all the bad luck they'll have for the season.

Fernando will be there - maybe 2nd in the championship - but this is his first season at SF so no need to feel bad. In equal cars we all know Alonso would beat other drivers most of the time.

[ali786]

If Red Bull are using some sort of hight adjusting system why have they not been punished?

[Tension_36th]

(04-09-2010 02:56 PM)ali786 Wrote:  If Red Bull are using some sort of hight adjusting system why have they not been punished?

They don't, its all just whining and moaning by spiteful rivals.

For clarification on whats really being said and what these different dampers systems are, head over to ----> here <-----

[Chrissie]

(04-09-2010 12:13 AM)maranellored Wrote:  Fernando will be there - maybe 2nd in the championship - but this is his first season at SF so no need to feel bad.

I think alot of us are maybe forgetting where he was this time last year...I'll gladly take second, third or even fourth in the championship...beats the hell out of being ninth

[maranellored]

(04-10-2010 05:09 PM)Chrissie Wrote:  

(04-09-2010 12:13 AM)maranellored Wrote:  Fernando will be there - maybe 2nd in the championship - but this is his first season at SF so no need to feel bad.

I think alot of us are maybe forgetting where he was this time last year...I'll gladly take second, third or even fourth in the championship...beats the hell out of being ninth

---

Fricking hell......yes!!!!!!!!

The thing with F is that he's a long-term investment..........even if I don't like the politics of the situation..........

[icegirljenni]

Late spring in China

April 14, 2010 - Posted by Fernando Alonso

Quote:It's really cold in China! I arrived here on Monday and you can't see anything of spring yet. It's not even ten degrees today and in the late morning it started raining non-stop. The weather should improve for the race weekend, but we've got to be ready for everything. It wouldn't be for the first time that the Chinese GP is held under variable weather conditions, just remember 2009 or 2007. I was at the track for a couple of hours, speaking to my engineers. We spoke about the situation and analysed the details of the data from Malaysia – Sunday night was just a quick summary – and the F10's development programme. We've got some new aerodynamic parts, which should improve our performance. But I also expect our main competitors to show up with updates, so it's impossible right now to say where we are: we'll discover that on Saturday afternoon in the qualifying. I've got confidence in our work. We've shown that we can be competitive on every kind of track, where we raced so far - during the races and at the test sessions in February. So there's no reason why it shouldn't be the same in China.

The Shanghai circuit is very interesting. There are all kinds of corners and a long straight with a very tight right-hand corner at the end: there are always plenty of overtaking manoeuvres taking place here.

As usual the qualifying will be very important and we have to check the tyres' behaviour very carefully. They are the same we've been using in Australia and in Malaysia but with lower temperatures. We need to gain many points to conclude this first part of the Championship the best possible way, before we come to Europe. There will be a long break after Shanghai and the drivers and the teams can charge their batteries before the European races start. We'll all benefit from that, that's for sure!

[maranellored]

(04-15-2010 06:06 PM)icegirljenni Wrote:  Late spring in China

April 14, 2010 - Posted by Fernando Alonso

Quote:It's really cold in China! I arrived here on Monday and you can't see anything of spring yet. It's not even ten degrees today and in the late morning it started raining non-stop. The weather should improve for the race weekend, but we've got to be ready for everything. It wouldn't be for the first time that the Chinese GP is held under variable weather conditions, just remember 2009 or 2007. I was at the track for a couple of hours, speaking to my engineers. We spoke about the situation and analysed the details of the data from Malaysia – Sunday night was just a quick summary – and the F10's development programme. We've got some new aerodynamic parts, which should improve our performance. But I also expect our main competitors to show up with updates, so it's impossible right now to say where we are: we'll discover that on Saturday afternoon in the qualifying. I've got confidence in our work. We've shown that we can be competitive on every kind of track, where we raced so far - during the races and at the test sessions in February. So there's no reason why it shouldn't be the same in China.

The Shanghai circuit is very interesting. There are all kinds of corners and a long straight with a very tight right-hand corner at the end: there are always plenty of overtaking manoeuvres taking place here.

As usual the qualifying will be very important and we have to check the tyres' behaviour very carefully. They are the same we've been using in Australia and in Malaysia but with lower temperatures. We need to gain many points to conclude this first part of the Championship the best possible way, before we come to Europe. There will be a long break after Shanghai and the drivers and the teams can charge their batteries before the European races start. We'll all benefit from that, that's for sure!

Boo!!! No breaks in F1

Thanks for the update Jenni