Friday: Ferrari is still hesitating to use its updates in Bahrain
At the end of a relatively calm and productive day, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa are quite satisfied with the behavior of the F138, both on Hard and Medium tires. However, the Scuderia still has to decide whether it will use the developments brought to this Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso – 2nd and 4th:
It was a positive day and we are reasonably satisfied with how the car performed. We did not encounter any major problems and, more importantly, we did not have to make radical changes to the F138 to adapt it to this track, with its long straights and slow corners, characteristics that I really like and that usually produce a great show in the race. Unfortunately, the wind and sand make everything a bit more complicated here because the track surface is never completely clean. However, the initial feelings are good and I think we can be in the leading group tomorrow, a group that is separated by, at most, two or three tenths.
We have not yet decided if we will use the aerodynamic developments we tried this morning. It’s not completely clear yet how they work, and in the afternoon, we focused on comparing the two tire compounds we have for this race. Another long evening of data analysis awaits us to choose the best strategy and settings for the qualifications and the race.
Felipe Massa – 1st and 6th:
« Everything went well today, even if, for the moment, it is not easy to say where we will be on Sunday. The car’s balance was good and it performed well in all conditions, even though we suffered a bit from tire degradation, especially on the rear. It is quite normal to have significant degradation in these conditions and, on this point, we have a lot of work to do to prepare for the race.
With the medium tires, the F138 was performing very well, even during long stints, but the key for Sunday will be managing the degradation on both compounds and deciding whether or not to use the new developments we tested this morning.
