Alonso breaks the silence at Ferrari
Fernando Alonso broke the silence imposed by Ferrari to encourage and thank his team, just days before the start of the championship.
In Barcelona, during the last winter testing days, Ferrari had forbidden Fernando Alonso from speaking to the press, in order to avoid questions for which he had no answers.
However, at the start of this week, the Spanish driver wanted to thank and encourage his team for all the work done so far: « First of all, I want to thank all the staff for the work accomplished. These last months and weeks have been intense, and I know they give their all, on the track and at the factory, so that Felipe and I have a competitive car. »
Despite everything, the performances of the new red car have been rather erratic this winter. This has led some members of the technical team to say that it would be very difficult to fight for the podium in Melbourne. Fernando shares this view while somewhat putting these difficulties into perspective: The new car has certain characteristics that are difficult to understand, and maybe we’re not yet where we want to be. But we have all experienced many Formula 1 seasons and we all know very well that until we are in Australia, we will not really know where we stand compared to our competitors. There are a lot of discussions and many ideas, but no one knows the truth. For example, in Barcelona, Red Bull, considered to be the team to beat, only did a few laps on the track. If something similar had happened to us, all hell would have broken loose. But in this case, no one really noticed…
Fernando, with a leader’s spirit that everyone recognizes in him, urges his team to continue their progress and work: « More than ever, we must give all our strength to improve, from the person in charge of the mirrors to the person responsible for the pistons. We are united and we are pooling all our strengths because we all want the same thing. »
And to prove that his optimism is not naive, Alonso recalls some memories from the 2010 season: « I just want to remind you of something. Two years ago, during the last tests in Barcelona, we were in fifth position behind Red Bull, McLaren, Sauber, and Force India, and two weeks later, we achieved a double in Bahrain. What matters is not being first in the first race, but being first in November, at the end of the championship. »
