Alonso encouraged by “perfect day” in F138

2013 F1 season

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Fernando Alonso said he sees no reason why Ferrari can’t compete for the world championship after his fourth day driving the F138.

“I don’t see any reasons to not think so,” he told media in Barcelona.

Alonso said the team were enjoying a better start to the season than last year: “We didn’t know what the car was doing, we didn’t understand what was going on at the wind tunnel and track.”

“And with that car we fight for the world championship until Brazil.”

“We have now a car that is responding well to our changes to the car,” said Alonso. “We have a car that is doing what we expect the car to do.”

Alonso added “we know that maybe we are not the quickest” but said he was happy with the potential shown by the car so far:

“The starting point, the potential of this car is there, we can touch it now. Last year it was a dream to make that car work.”

Alonso was relieved to have had a productive test despite rain falling early in the day:

“It was a fantastic day,” he said. “To be honest when we saw the forecast yesterday and this morning we thought maybe the plan was over because the rain was supposed to be very heavy and we’d be not allowed to test a few things that we wanted.”

“But in the morning we completed the programme we want, it was a little bit a strange programme but a necessary programme of understanding some of the new parts of the car.

“And then in the afternoon we did some long runs, we pushed the intermediates to the limit when the circuit was quite dry. We were in very wet conditions this morning with both tyres, extreme [wet] and the inters. The inters new, the inters scrubbed from yesterday.

“The information we have from today we don’t have in ten days of testing so it’s a perfect day.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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32 comments on “Alonso encouraged by “perfect day” in F138”

  1. Reliable pit stops, good strategy, a reliable car and Alonso’s fantastic first laps, consistency and relentlessness – if the car really is more or less on pace he’ll definitely be in the title battle again.

  2. Reliable pit stops, good strategy, a reliable car and Alonso’s fantastic first laps, consistency and relentlessness – if the car really is more or less on pace he’ll definitely be in the title battle again.

    Totally agree!!! I hope everything goes smoothely and maybe this time he won´t bring a sword to a gun fight!! I soooo want this season to start already!

    1. @catracho504 – by the looks of things, the F138 might even be the second fastest car at this point (I think the Red Bull is still the fastest). It bodes well for another thrilling Alonso vs. Vettel duel – Hollywood eat your heart out!

    2. Alonso is the greatest ever driver to walk the face of the earth!!! :D

      *Runs

      1. @aimalkhan – haha! Top 10 definetly, but you can’t beat Senna! ;)

        1. No one can, Jim Clark maybe!? But Fernando? In my opinion the most complete F1 driver of today but not of all times.

          1. Boomerang yea we weren’t being entirely serious!

  3. Wait a minute, Alonso said something positive about his car?! What’s next, a peaceful race in Bahrain?!

      1. @kingshark – I think you can probably tell I am being slightly sarcastic, but that was easily cancelled out by how rubbish the car was at the start of the season and how he then later persisted with calling it a “dog of a car”! ;)

        1. @vettel1
          I don’t remember him calling it a dog; though I do remember him being frustrated about the fact that Ferrari were falling behind Red Bull and McLaren in the development race. McLaren were a non-factor as they were so incompetent, but Scuderia’s slower upgrades versus RBR is really the main reason to why he lost the championship to Vettel in 2012.

          1. @kingshark – you’re right enough actually, Coulthard coined the “dog of a car” phrase. I do distinctly remember him making it out to be as if he had a midfield at best car, which was a gross exaggeration but your last point is entirely just (there was no small influence form Vettel’s impervious form though)!

  4. I get the feeling its going to be Massa’s year.

    1. @infy – If he continues with the form he had late last season, it could very well be. He was even faster Alonso at times in the last coupes of races…

    2. I get the feeling that Massa will be Massa this year. (Get thrashed by his teammate 80-90% of the time and perform only well enough for people to debate whether he deserves the seat)

      1. @todfod sadly I fear you may be correct. It is never good to see any driver fall from grace so spectacularly and I just hope he justifies Ferrari’s retention of him for this season.

  5. There’s one prediction which can be made with 100% certainty about the 2013 season right now – Alonso will fare relatively badly in qualifying, and do better on Sunday. That’s been his pattern over the last decade, even during his title winning years.

    And another safe prediction – some people will observe the above happening and exclaim, “That Ferrari is a slow car, and Alonso is working miracles in it!”

    Some stats: In 197 races Alonso has 37 front row starts, or 18.8%. In the 110 races of the 2007 – 2012 seasons, he has seven pole positions. Over that same span Hamilton has 26 poles, and Vettel 36. Of all the “great” drivers (and I think Alonso deserves to be described as such) he has one of the poorest qualifying records.

    1. And another safe prediction – some people will observe the above happening and exclaim, “That Ferrari is a slow car, and Alonso is working miracles in it!”

      It’s not miracles, it’s simply that the difference you can make over 80 laps is bigger then the difference you can make over 1 lap.
      McLaren and Red Bull have been the fastest cars for last few years. Vettel had just one full season where he wasn’t in the fastest car, while Hamilton had only 2009 where McLaren wasn’t fastest or 2nd fastest. In the meantime, Alonso probably only had the top 2 car in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Two of those being before Vettel and Lewis even started F1. 2009 Renault was worse then the worst car either Lewis or Vettel ever had to deal with, so do your math.
      It’s not that his quali record is poor, it’s that his race-craft is probably the best there ever was.

      1. Vettel had just one full season where he wasn’t in the fastest car

        He wasn’t in the fastest car in 2008, 2009, or 2012.

        Alonso probably only had the top 2 car in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

        Does “probably” mean “I’m pulling your leg here”? Alonso was in THE top car in 2005 and 2006. The 2007 McLaren was at least in a tie for “top car” that year.

        It’s not that his quali record is poor ..

        The entire point I was making was that his qualifying record is poor, so yes, that is what it is.

    2. Well it is a well known fact that ALonso’s 1 lap pace is not at par with Lewis and Vettel and even Trulli. BUt pole position does not give u points in F1, race finishing position gives.

    3. And, in pre-2010 era, the fuel load had a lot of hand in deciding who is on pole or not. Don’t forget that.

    4. Yet his pole lap at Singapore in 2010 is one of the best I’ve seen in recent times.

      1. And at Monza in 2010, Germany & Britain 2012

    5. In defense of FA a little here, the comparison is to two drivers who have been in very strong stable ‘homes’ if you will, of being raised as Red Bull and Mac ‘boys’ whereas FA has had a much more topsy turvy 07 to 12, bouncing around team-wise and struggling to gel with an all-encompassing package in that time frame. He is only just about to get into a groove at Ferrari after being out of a groove for a while now, imho. Last year it was the car that was the weak link too often, but he left us no need for doubt regarding his abilities. Some say it was some of his best work.

      1. In defense of FA a little here, the comparison is to two drivers who have been in very strong stable ‘homes’ if you will, of being raised as Red Bull and Mac ‘boys’ whereas FA has had a much more topsy turvy 07 to 12, bouncing around team-wise and struggling to gel with an all-encompassing package in that time frame. He is only just about to get into a groove at Ferrari after being out of a groove for a while now, imho.

        That’s a pretty generous interpretation of things. For instance, I don’t think it’s accurate to claim that Vettels years with Torro Rosso count as his being in a “strong stable home”.

        Besides, even prior to 2007 Alonso’s qualifying was hardly Sennaesque.

  6. With Hamilton out of the equation (probably) and the law of averages (whatever that is) giving me a feeling that 4-in-a-row won’t happen, I’d be surprised if Alonso didn’t take a third world title in 2013.

    He’s definitely worthy of 3, if not more, and although I’m not a massive fan of his I would kind of like to see him do it this year, just because I think he’s that good.

    1. Cheers mate! He is a real fighter, never gives up and deserves 3rd title for sure.

    2. Sviatoslav Andrushko (@)
      2nd March 2013, 11:14

      I suppose Fernando won’t win another title at all. He will finish his career with two championships. Ferrari just can’t do right things. They will bring one big update to European races and that’s all. Alonso said that they didn’t bring any Melbourne’s parts! What a shame! That means that top-teams are in one step ahead. Again and again:-( And Red Bull will take this year as it was in the last three: easy to the end. Vettel is another Shumi with 5/7/10 WDCs. It is sad.

      1. @ibis

        And Red Bull will take this year as it was in the last three: easy to the end.

        I think they’ll disagree with you on that one, particularly with last year!

        Vettel is another Shumi with 5/7/10 WDCs. It is sad.

        Again I beg to differ: as a Vettel fan I would rather like that to happen! There is a crucial difference between the two though; Ferrari’s car in the early 2000’s was so dominant at times Schuamcher would win by nearly minutes, so if Vettel were to win 7 likely it would be perhaps an even greater achievement.

        1. Sviatoslav Andrushko (@)
          3rd March 2013, 9:58

          I see what you mean and I can’t agree more. I’m saying that as a Fernando fan. What I don’t like at all is that Vettel at some point of year gets a car that is much-much better than others. Four winning races in a row – that’s sad. I want him fighting and not “cruising”.

  7. Sorry if this has already been discussed (I’ve been away for a while)… but where did that hideous UPS badge come from? It spoils an otherwise fantastic livery.

  8. Ben (@scuderia29)
    2nd March 2013, 17:55

    please please please let this be ferraris year, too many disappointments in the last 5 years, they came soooo close in 2008, 2010 & 2012, each one of those years finales was hearbreaking

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