Friday: Ferrari’s new parts work
The Canadian weekend starts well for Ferrari, with both F2012s closely following each other at the top of the ranks during the afternoon session. The main reason for satisfaction among the Reds: the car's updates, which include exhausts following the philosophy introduced by McLaren, seem to be paying off.
Fernando Alonso – 4th and 2nd
I’m quite happy with how things went this Friday. This morning, we mainly focused on assessing some updates, while this afternoon, we largely worked on comparing the two types of tires, the performance over a lap, and also the car’s behavior with a lot of fuel on board. The initial indications seem positive, but it’s too early to draw conclusions since Friday’s times are never to be taken as such. Now, we’ll focus on analyzing the data and preparing as best as we can for the rest of the weekend. The circuit named after Gilles Villeneuve is very similar to a city circuit, with walls very close to what resemble normal roads. Therefore, it becomes very important to find the right reference points, especially in terms of braking and distance from the walls, to achieve both a fast lap and a smooth drive over a long distance.
Felipe Massa – 12th and 3rd
« It’s a very positive Friday for us. We managed to cover a lot of distance and, above all, test everything that was on our schedule. Fortunately, the rain, and it did rain a lot, came after the end of the second session, so we were able to do everything correctly. I think we can be happy with the fact that our new parts are working, even if it’s hard to instantly judge what improvement they have produced. In any case, we intend to keep the car in this configuration. It seems well-balanced and felt rather consistent in terms of performance, even though, obviously, the track doesn’t yet provide enough grip, today being the first day of the race weekend. To sum up, it’s been the best Friday of 2012: let’s hope it continues like this until Sunday! »
