A good day for Ferrari despite Alonso’s engine problem in Brazil

Fernando Alonso was victim of a problem with his power unit during FP2, having to stop his Ferrari, which caused a red flag and the start of a fire on his F14-T. But the Spaniard acted as a firefighter to prevent damage to his car’s parts, as the issue with his V6 block is not problematic for him.

« Today, we knew that the power unit had reached the end of its cycle. So there was a risk of not finishing the second session, but it was part of the program we have been following for several races now. It’s always a shame not to be able to use the available track time, even if I don’t think it really affected our work, » Alonso confided at the end of Friday in Interlagos.

Information confirmed by Pat Fry, the chassis technical director of Scuderia Ferrari: « Fernando’s power unit had done many kilometers and we were well aware that it would be his last Friday on track, even though it was a shame to lose the last 20 minutes of track time. »

On the other side of the Reds’ garage, Kimi Räikkönen is satisfied with his day because even if everything wasn’t perfect, his Friday went well: « It was a better Friday than the last ones, and thanks to the work we did on the car, we had a good response from the changes made in both sessions. In the first session, we focused on settings and aerodynamic measurements. […] In the afternoon, with the soft tires, the lap times were good and I’m sure that without the traffic, I could have done even better. »

For the rest of the weekend, the Finn doesn’t really know what to expect as it will mainly depend on the weather conditions over Sao Paulo: « Due to the red flags, we weren’t able to do a race simulation, but everything can change in the coming days because the weather forecasts are very uncertain. In dry conditions, the car performs well, but we know that if it rains, the track conditions could change things. »