Alonso eager for less conservative Ferrari

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In the round-up: Fernando Alonso backs Ferrari’s less conservative approach to 2012.

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Alonso has faith in Ferrari’s new approach (ITV-F1)

“Last spring, we made important changes to the structure of the technical part of the team and now we have adopted a new approach, a less conservative one, in the design of the new car. The philosophy behind the 2012 car is very different from that of 2011, especially in some key areas like suspension and aerodynamics.”

Ferrari hint at Vettel interest (Setanta)

Luca di Montezemolo: “[Sebastian] Vettel is a brilliant driver. He’s young, but seems very intelligent in the way he carries himself. He has a great future, let’s see. I like drivers who use their head more than their right foot.”

India establishes itself as a growing sporting nation with F1 (The Times of India)

“The Buddh International Circuit (BIC) in Greater Noida came in for free-flowing praise from the leading drivers, including the double world champion Sebastian Vettel. The grand spectacle could have been more appealing to the countrymen had Karun Chandhok also raced along with Narain Karthikeyan.”

I just want bacon sarnie for Xmas (The Sun)

Lewis Hamilton: “I’m so strict ?óÔé¼ÔÇØ even on Christmas Day I stick to my diet. It’s a protein shake for breakfast, with a few dates and some raisins ?óÔé¼ÔÇØ it’s horrible, it really is horrible but I just blend it up into a smoothie.”

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28 comments on “Alonso eager for less conservative Ferrari”

  1. No surprise to me that Luca Di Montezemolo has some interest in Vettel. Seb has a lot to give, and time is on his side (hopefully)

    1. I thought Seb wanted Ferrari and Ferrari wanted Seb before he went to Red Bull. I don’t think Seb would like to depart unless they stop performing so well.

      1. I think it depends more on the performance of Ferrari than on the performance of Red Bull. If Ferrari are still struggling in 2014 I doubt Vettel will switch teams.

        Or he’ll decide to do another ‘Schumacher’ and try to bring Ferrari back to the top. Just to add more similarities between him and Schumacher. ^^

        1. Well, I think hè must wait until Alonso leaves. Luca talks about balance in tha team and we all know (especially Massa) what that means.
          Then again, if Vettel wants to shut up all his critics, hè should go to Ferrari and beat Alonso on merit.

          1. “if Vettel wants to shut up all his critics, hè should go to Ferrari and beat Alonso on merit”
            the guy is so smart he will not risk his career by leaving Red bull (best car) right now
            going to Ferrari to beat Alonso is Mission Impossible 4 no one can beat him in Ferrari apart from his driving skills his leadership won’t let him down he’s so strong that in he’s first season he has all the team in one hand
            as i said going to ferrari for beating Alonso is suicide for Vettel

          2. I coudn’t agree more

  2. Seb is now the type of driver that he will be in the shopping list of not only Ferrari but Mclaren, & Mercedes in the future. But I want him to stay with RBR as long as they have Newey & Horner in the team.

  3. Well when Ferrari launched their car earlier this year the headline on the newspaper said “Ferrari quietly confident with new aggressive looking car”, turned out to be quite the oposite

    1. “An aggressive design philosophy” is the new “for sure” or “improving the show” – an over-used open-ended catch-phrase that has no real meaning to it, but which the teams will proudly sqwark about because everybody else has it (or thinks they do). McLaren seem to be the only team immune to it; when they say they’re going to do something different, they mean it – everyone wrote off the MP4-26 as being another team talking things up, but then it came with the moose-horn side-pods, slender nose and Alien airbox.

      1. I hope they keep and develop the sidepods, just because they’re something different, and changing their concept so dramatically every year isn’t exactly getting them to the front.

        1. I expect that a lot of teams will go for a McLaren-style nose because the wording of the technical regulations means the maximum allowable height of the bulkhead has been lowered. The teams will try and get as close to that maximum value as possible to allow more air to flow under the nose and over the splitter.

          I’m not so sure about the sidepods, though. They obviously work, but I think it will be very easy for teams to copy them without really understanding how they work, which will really hurt their cars. In the case of Ferrari, I expect they will go for Red Bull-style “coke bottle” sidepods.

      2. Reno also had an aggressive design with their front facing exhausts.

        1. Yeah, but I don’t recall them hyping up the “aggressive design philosophy” the way other teams do their own cars.

          1. They actually did. I also seem to recall them loving the phrase ‘radical design’ during the preseason.

          2. Well, whatever the case, they made good on their promise to actualy do something different.

            Fat lot of good it did them, though.

    2. Well, at least Alonso names two area’s this time, so it’s possibly less generic.
      However, I recall that their car for 2011 had à very ingenious push rod system, combining all benefits of pull and push, especially making à tighter rear end possible.
      So at least they get me guessing what they Will do for 2012.

  4. “I like drivers who use their head more than their right foot”
    is that hamilton :lol:

  5. I’m a little surprised at Hamilton’s tales of Christmas breakfast woes. I believe the only real advantage of sticking to a diet that strictly is the mental boost you get from believing you did everything you could in the preparation.

    I’m also surprised at Button’s revelation of his low-carb diet. I’m no expert on the subject, but I cycled as an amateur for a few years and read up on the subject of food as well as experiencing the intake of enormous amounts of food (and carbs) without getting any increase in my body fat percentage level. I do wonder whether the drivers get around to much training during the season and around GP weekends, so perhaps that’s when Button needs his low-carb diet.

    1. It comes across as insane, both diet and training regime.
      I read that Schumacher swims an hour every day plus some weight lifting. And hè used to be F1’s fittest and most dedicated driver.

    2. @adrianmorse Probably a little bit of paranoia. They don’t want that bit of mash to be the reason they lost the WDC by 1 point.

  6. “It’s a protein shake for breakfast, with a few dates and some raisins”

    Drinking protein shakes and eating raisins while on a date? No wonder he’s got trouble hanging on to Nicole. That’s not exactly romantic.

  7. Hopefully “less conservative” Ferrari = even slower Ferrari

    1. Hah, yet you have a Ferrari avatar? I’m with you though. :D

      1. @jonchuckle That’s because I think that Ferrari is the best looking car Kimi has driven so far.

        1. @HUHHII OK, I’m with you. I’m a lot more fond of the F60 personally; I think the new regs suited Ferrari. (Although to be honest, I can’t stand most of the cars from 2004–8 – they all look like the sodding Batmobile.)

          1. @jonchuckle Haha :D It’s a matter of taste I suppose.

          2. Just realised I said “I’m with you” twice. The first time I meant “I agree”, and the second I meant “I follow you”. Just to clear that up. :D

  8. Lewis, talk to your physio: its called a REFEED day! Athletes can plan around the holidays to put their refeed days on the holidays. doh! No raisins for me on Christmas!

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