Ferrari’s most aggressively-designed car for a number of years made its track debut at Jerez on Tuesday, and afterwards its designer explained the approach the team is taking to the opening test of pre-season. The F2012 features a number of wholesale technical departures compared to last year’s disappointing challenger, notably pull-rod front and rear suspensions along with fundamental changes towards the rear of the car. Although the team’s recent cars have proved disappointing, Ferrari has nonetheless often been consistently at the sharp end of the winter testing timesheets with its cars invariably proving reliable out of the box. On Monday More…

Ferrari chief designer Nikolas Tombazis has admitted the team’s relative underachievement in recent years means the whole company is feeling the pressure to deliver consistent race-winning performances this year. At the launch of the team’s F2012 on Friday its management and drivers put emphasis on the deliberately more aggressive approach the squad has taken in the conception process for this year’s car, after being accused of lacking innovation in recent years. The car duly the most striking stepped nose of the 2012 challenger’s released to date, while the team has broken with recent design convention by reintroducing a pull-rod front More…

When we look back on the 2012 F1 season in photos and yearbooks, we will wince at the ugliness of the cars, especially the nose sections. Luckily it won’t last long, it’s a passing phase, because in 2014 the new rules mean a totally new generation of F1 cars. Ferrari, arguably F1′s most stylish brand, has today unveiled the F2012. It’s a car whose nose is aesthetically challenged, but if it’s fast, no-one at Maranello will care about that. And it needs to be fast, because this needs to be the year Ferrari gets back into the winners’ circle on More…

The forthcoming season is unquestionably an important one for Ferrari, and with just a few days to go until the launch of their 2012 car, the team’s race drivers have been completing their winter training programme in Lanzarote. The specialist pre-season training camp, in sunnier climes to the traditional northern European winter, has long been a staple of many teams’ preparations ahead of a new season, giving them the chance to put their drivers through some rigorous exercises as well as providing an opportunity for team building. Ferrari have chosen the Canary island for their training camp in recent days, More…

Today the Sahara Force India team confirmed the story which we first ran during the Brazil GP weekend: that Jules Bianchi will become its third driver. The 22 year old Frenchman will have the opportunity to drive on at least nine Grand Prix weekends in the Friday morning practice session. He will join a small but growing number of young drivers getting some regular track time on Fridays, including Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Lotus’ Jerome D’Ambrosio. Caterham are likely to have someone in that role and Marussia has also made use of the Friday morning opportunity too. It’s the right More…

Italian technical journalist Giorgio Piola has struck again, releasing some details of the new Ferrari due to be launched at Maranello on Friday February 3rd. The car has been described as “ugly” by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and it’s certainly a new departure from the DNA of Ferraris of recent years, but all there are agreed that if it’s fast enough, it will certainly be beautiful! Among the indiscretions Piola has published in Gazzetta dello Sport today are that the suspension is a pull-rod system, the first on a Ferrari for 11 years. This is what Red Bull has More…

Felipe Massa appeared at the Ferrari Wrooom media event in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy today, knowing that his back is against the wall and 2012 could be his final year with the team if he doesn’t raise his game significantly. Two lacklustre campaigns have left the Brazilian vulnerable and both Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and team boss Stefano Domenicali have spelled out that he is fighting to save his job. Interestingly, the Ferrari website presents a stark picture in its story on Massa’s appearance in Madonna and puts Massa’s position in these terms, “Felipe Massa’s future depends on what More…

Ferrari’s annual Wrooom event is underway at Madonna di Campiglio in Italy. This is a traditional pre season media event at which the team and management give their thoughts and assessments on the sporting and political year ahead. I went last year, but this year had to decline, as I have to be at the Autosports International Show in Birmingham tomorrow for the BBC. Today saw conferences from team boss Stefano Domenicali and a brief appearance by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo. Montezemolo has been quite vocal over the winter about many things and today reiterated that Ferrari is ready More…

Yesterday was Ferrari’s traditional end of year dinner with the Italian media and there have been some headlines about company president Luca Montezemolo wanting more from the team and from Felipe Massa. But less widely reported were his comments about world champion Sebastian Vettel and Bernie Ecclestone, which could have more far reaching consequences. There have been various stories this year speculating about Ferrari’s interest in Vettel, but Gazzetta dello Sport’s Pino Allievi – normally a reliable guide to the goings on in the corridors of Maranello – suggests that there has been a change of feeling and that the More…

During 2011 JA on F1 reached out to F1 fans like never before, playing a central role in organising and hosting the three FOTA Fans Forums in Montreal, Woking and Milan, organising one of the first UK screenings of “Senna” for over 200 fans with a star studded list of speakers, sending 14 fans to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and last month we sent a fan ambassador to Abu Dhabi in conjunction with our partner Shell. After a competition in which the contestants were asked to write a post and submit a video, Rachel Clarke was selected as More…

Fernando Alonso has been in the news a couple of times this week, first for his bullish statements about Ferrari’s competitiveness in 2012 and then again yesterday with the sad confirmation that his marriage has ended. The Spaniard, now 30 years old, met his wife Raquel de Rosario in late 2005 and married a year later, just after he clinched his second world title. Apparently the pair have been separated for some months, they were last seen together at a Grand Prix in Hungary in late July, where Alonso celebrated his 30th birthday. The private life of F1 drivers has More…

Luca Montezemolo celebrated 20 years as the president of Ferrari with a Christmas lunch this weekend for the F1 team’s employees, sponsors and drivers. Montezemolo began the year by saying that Ferrari had to win this season, but that didn’t work out and the team was third best after Red Bull and McLaren. He did not dwell on this too much in his speech to the staff, instead focussing on the future and asserting his confidence in the technical team under team principal Stefano Domenicali. Ferrari ends 2011 in a place where it has been before, somewhat isolated as it More…

The feud which has simmered between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa this season, often flaring into an on track clash, has been put to an end by Hamilton visiting Massa after the race to make up. The Brazilian was finishing off his press briefing at the front of the Ferrari hospitality area when Hamilton approached him and gave him a hug and said a few words. It is not clear whether Hamilton felt moved to make some kind of apology or just a gesture to say that he wanted to put the events behind them. But either way, Massa, who More…

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has given Felipe Massa notice that he is fighting to save his seat with the team next year. Montezemolo used an interview on a show in Italy called Politica nel Pallone to confirm that the Brazilian, who almost won the world title three years ago, is safe for next year despite an “unfortunate season” but that he must prove himself to stay with the team beyond next year. “With Massa we have a contract for next year. He’s had an unfortunate season but we aren’t doubting a driver who three years ago fought for the More…

Rachel Clarke was the winner of our competition in partnership with Shell V Power to send a Fan Ambassador to Abu Dhabi. The two day adventure takes in Ferrari World with its record breaking roller coaster and an insight into Shell’s partnership with Ferrari. Here are Rachel’s thoughts as she set off this weekend on her journey. Rachel will meet with bloggers and other people active in social media from around the world. Rachel Clarke writes: Do you enter competitions? I’ve been entering them a lot more over the last year, winning a few things like a month’s supply of More…

There has been a lot of chatter in the last 24 hours with reference to statements made by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo yesterday at the Finali Mondiali event at Mugello. Many commentators have read Montezemolo’s line as “Ferrari boss threatens F1 pullout” but it isn’t easy to decode his message here. I’m not sure that he meant to go that far on this occasion and that’s why the notorious Horse Whisperer was deployed on Monday to play down suggestions that Montezemolo was making threats. What is clear is that he was doing something he likes to do from time More…

Felipe Massa spoke around 90 minutes after the Indian Grand Prix in which he was penalised with a drive through for colliding with Lewis Hamilton. It was the sixth occasion the pair have collided in a bitter season. Speaking after the race Massa said, “I don’t have anything against him. Zero. If I saw him I would tell him what I’m telling you now. “I don’t understand why I have the penalty. I braked later than him, I was in front and on the grippier part of the circuit and I didn’t see him on the left. So he was More…

The social media competition we’ve been running, in conjunction with Shell, to find a Fan Ambassador enters its final phase. We are looking for a Fan Ambassador to go to Abu Dhabi in November, the week after the F1 Grand Prix, to have the experience of a lifetime at a Shell V-Power Network of Champions event at Ferrari World, then experience the Yas Marina GP Circuit and then report on the trip for the JA on F1 website. They will join fans from around the world at this unique event. After an initial phase we selected five finalists, who were More…

We’ve been running a competition in conjunction with our friends at Shell, to find a Fan Ambassador to go to Abu Dhabi a week after the Grand Prix, to experience the amazing Ferrari World theme park and get a taste of the Yas Marina GP circuit in a racing car literally days after the F1 Grand Prix and the Young Guns F1 test. The winner will take part in the Shell V Power Network of Champions event in November, meet fans from other countries around the world and will get to write and produce content on his or her experience, More…

With the championship settled, teams are using the final races of the season as a test session looking at “carry over” items, which could be used in 2012. Ferrari’s Nicolas Tombaszis said last week that they would be trying out some new parts, including a new front wing. And so it proved in Korea. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa carried out back to back tests over the weekend, with Alonso taking the wing for the qualifying and race. It featured several Red Bull-esque touches, such as the endplates, the main plane slot and the large top flap, and was considered More…

Ferrari chief designer Nikolas Tombazis has promised a more aggressive car from the Scuderia next season, as it looks to close the gap to the pace setting Red Bull. Over the winter of 2010/11 Ferrari went too conservative under the technical leadership of Aldo Costa, leaving some ideas untested in a generally risk averse strategy. McLaren went the opposite way with initially calamitous consequences, of the kind Costa was trying to avoid, but they changed direction before the first race and got the car on track. However they, like Ferrari, have been playing catch up all year. Meanwhile Red Bull More…

Each driver has just eight engines to see him through the F1 season. All drivers took a new engine for both Spa and Monza, the two great power circuits, but Singapore not being a power circuit, most drivers used a high mileage engine to do this weekend’s qualifying and race. One of the Ferraris was running an engine that had already done one race weekend and the other had a two race old engine, according to Luigi Fraboni, who is head of Ferrari’s engine operations side and formerly the engine engineer for Schumacher and Raikkonen. At this late stage of More…

The race organisers are putting in an all-night stint with a massive programme of works to remedy problems with the kerbs following the first day of practice in Singapore. The plastic kerbs, in only their fourth year of use, were lifting up with retaining bolts raising out of the ground, due to the forces the cars are putting on them. Tonight most of the kerbs are either being removed or bonded to the ground. The kerbs at turns 3, 5, 10 and 17, for example, are being removed and markings are being painted on the ground. The kerbs are of More…

After 80 years in the motor sport business and statistically the most successful team in Formula One history, it is no surprise that Ferrari are experts in spotting talent for the future. The signing of a young Gilles Villeneuve towards the end of the 1977 season showed Ferrari’s prowess for spotting raw talent. Villeneuve had only driven in 3 Grand Prix for McLaren before Ferrari noticed his potential and immediately put him in their car for the last 2 rounds of the 1977 season. He was to stay in this seat until his untimely death at the Belgian Grand Prix More…

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo made his customary Saturday visit to Monza with a clear message to the tifosi and the team itself. “We had hoped to win in our 60th anniversary year, but the truth is that the car is disappointing,” he told Italian media. “And some circumstances have not favoured us. I’m thinking about the interruption in Monaco, the incident between Alonso and Button in Canada and then the safety car always there.” Montezemolo had said before the start of the season that “Ferrari is condemned to win”, but the only win this year has been at Silverstone, More…

As if the tifosi (Ferrari fans) didn’t have enough to worry about, with F1 ticket prices ranging between €170 and €520 each and serious traffic problems getting in, due to labyrinthine road works, Fernando Alonso’s body language after practice will have made their hearts sink further. “It seems that Red Bull and McLaren and also Mercedes are quite competitive,” he said.”Tomorrow we will need to find something more in the car to be fighting with them. In Belgium we were not as good as we expected. You cannot create a miracle in two weeks. Here so far we struggle with More…

The fourth FOTA Fans Forum took place today at the HQ of Pirelli in Milan. It was the first FFF to be conducted in a language other than English. An audience of 200 Italian fans interacted with a panel comprising Ferrari boss Stafano Domenicali, drivers Nico Rosberg and Jarno Trulli, Sauber engineer Gianpaolo Dallara, Toro Rosso aerodynamicist Niccolo Petrucci. Veteran Italian journalist Pino Allievi was the master of ceremonies and it was a lively discussion ranging across many subjects. Fans had a wide variety of questions for the panel on topics from the cost of tickets for Monza, young drivers More…

There’s an awkward interview in El Pais, the leading Spanish daily paper, which was done during the Spa weekend with Felipe Massa and which slipped under the radar. Reading it through, it seems very familiar; a newspaper goes to interview the underachieving team mate of its national hero and asks him how he feels about being beaten by their man. For Massa in this scenario you could insert any driver down the years who has found himself paired with an ace. However Massa is slightly different in that he was a contender; 11 times a Grand Prix winner, he almost More…

Once again JA on F1 is reaching out to F1 fans around the world to dig deep for a very worthy cause. Felipe Massa’s race engineer, Rob Smedley and his wife Lucy are hosting a fund raising evening for Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice in Middlesborough, which looks after very small children suffering from life threatening conditions. The Smedleys lost a baby a few years ago. The fundraiser is taking place in Middlesborough tomorrow night and details of how to attend are below. But fans anywhere in the world are able to bid for the fantastic auction prizes listed below. There More…

This morning I had the chance to drive in the latest generation mobile simulator, which has been designed and built for Shell by ex Ferrari and Red Bull electronics chief Anton Stipinovitch. The simulator, based on a 2009 Ferrari chassis with 2011 electronics, is due to be launched publicly later today, but I had an early go this morning here at the circuit and it’s mind blowing. Stipinovitch’s company, All in Sports, is based in Modena and does a lot of work with Ferrari on their in house simulator. The new mobile version, which Shell plans to take to events More…

With this weekend being the 20th anniversary of Michael Schumacher’s debut in F1, there have been tributes aplenty from fellow drivers but none more effusive than from his great rival of the mid 2000s, Fernando Alonso. “I have great respect for him, he’s one of the greatest or the greatest in our sport,” said Alonso. “The numbers are there and impossible to repeat for us. It’s been a great pleasure to drive with him all these years. I will always remember all the battles with him. It was a priviledge to drive against Michael Schumacher. “He decided to stop and More…

John Surtees the 1964 world champion with Ferrari got together with the man who leads the Scuderia today, Fernando Alonso, to discuss the magic of Spa Francorchamps, venue for this weekend’s Shell Belgian Grand Prix. It’s only a four minute edit, but you can tell from the questions they ask each other that this is an engaging meeting across the generations; Alonso asks Surtees about the sensitivity of slipstreaming in his day, for example and they discuss the challenge of the key corners on the track. Surtees won the race for Ferrari in 1966, but Alonso has never won at More…

Stefano Domenicali, the team boss of Ferrari, has been hosting a summer break version of the Wrooom winter sports event which has traditionally prefaced the start of the F1 season. Some important messages have come out of this event and from the Ferrari website at the same time. These are principally an insight into his and Ferrari’s thinking on drivers for the future and the strategy for making sure they are competitive in 2013. But he has also said quite clearly that he doesn’t think that Lewis Hamilton will drive for Ferrari at any stage. First the drivers: “For the More…

It’s now August and although they lead both championships comfortably, Red Bull’s last race victory was in Valencia in June. They have maintained their 100% record in qualifying, but on race day they no longer have the fastest car. In Budapest we saw a reaction with Red Bull mechanics using up one of their four curfew free nights of the season on Friday to work into the small hours on the car to get it right for qualifying and the race. This involved changing the specification of the car from what they had intended to run, with modifications to the More…

Ferrari and their partner Shell carried out an fascinating experiment last week, which hasn’t been tried before in the modern era. They wanted to see how the Shell V Power road car fuel you can buy on the forecourt would perform in an F1 car and how it would compare with the race fuel Ferrari use. The FIA regulations stipulate that Formula One race fuels must be composed of compounds normally found in commercial fuels, but there are some tightly controlled areas where they can innovate with additives for more power or to control temperatures and such like. A lot More…

We’ve posted quite a bit on F1 and social media in recent months; particularly after the FOTA Fans Forum in Montreal where it was one of the key discussion points and also when I put some of the fans’ questions to Bernie Ecclestone about F1′s reluctance to push content out on social media. Our colleagues at the leading French website Toile F1 have compiled some research on the subject, which is worth sharing and which highlights some interesting trends. The sample was measured this week. The % column refers to the gain in popularity from the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, More…

The German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring featured three drivers in different cars closely matched on performance. As the winner Lewis Hamilton observed, it was all about being perfect and not making mistakes and this was as true of the strategists and the pit crews as it was of the drivers. In the end it came down to some inspired driving and finely balanced strategy calls. But further down the field we saw some varying strategies making a difference to the race result, particularly in the case of Adrian Sutil, who finished sixth ahead of the Mercedes and Renaults. The More…

The German Grand Prix seems to have been a real crowd pleaser because it gave us three of the top F1 drivers all in closely matched cars and it came down to a straight fight on the track. It was driver versus driver and that’s what F1 fans want to see. As with all the best F1 races it is the details that make the difference; for example the tyre warm up up issue on the Ferrari meant that even though Alonso managed to jump Hamilton for the lead at the second stop, he couldn’t resist him in Turn 2 More…

Fernando Alonso appeared in bullish mood on the first day of the German Grand Prix weekend, saying that he is now “very, very confident in the car” and predicting that it is now capable of taking him and the team on a winning streak, which may or may not give them a chance in the championship. “We have, I think, 32 points more than last year from these same nine races, so we are definitely improving our results, always trying to do our best,” said Alonso. “But we have to accept that Red Bull was very, very dominant in the More…

Fernando Alonso gave Scuderia Ferrari its first win of the 2011 season at the British Grand Prix. The victory marks 60 years since the Scuderia’s first ever Grand Prix win, at the hands of José Froilan Gonzalez on the same track in 1951. Before the race, Fernando Alonso commemorated the anniversary with an exhibition lap of the Silverstone circuit in the 375 F1 driven by Gonzalez at the 1951 British Grand Prix. The car now belongs to Bernie Ecclestone. It was driven around Silverstone 10 years ago by Michael Schumacher when he was a Ferrari driver. “It is a very More…

Leaving aside whatever benefit they may have accrued from the chopping and changing of rules over the off throttle engine mapping, the Ferrari worked well in Silverstone because of some key updates. This time last year Fernando Alonso said that despite being a long way behind in the points, he could fight for the world championship. Alonso was saying this because of the updates Ferrari had made to its 2010 car. They didn’t really show in Valencia and Silverstone because Alonso had problems with safety cars in both races, but he knew his car had been transformed. And he was More…

In the background of today’s exciting Grand Prix at Silverstone, the teams agreed to a plan for the rest of the season on the off throttle blown diffuser issue. After a meeting this morning at which Sauber refused to sign an agreement to revert to the rules as they were in Valencia, this afternoon a unanimous agreement was reached. So from Germany onwards teams can go back to what they were doing before, only they will not be allowed to change engine maps between qualifying and the race. Then at the end of the season, blown diffusers will be banned More…

Fernando Alonso won a thrilling British Grand Prix at Silverstone ahead of the Red Bull pair Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Vettel lost the lead to Alonso when his second pit stop went disastrously wrong. He lost further time behind Lewis Hamilton and could not bridge the gap to the Ferrari driver. It was Alonso’s first win of the season, the 27th of his career and his second at Silverstone. Earlier in the day he had driven the Ferrari which won this race 60 years ago and he was proud to have delivered the win on such an important anniversary, More…

The European Grand Prix at Valencia was the least exciting race of the season so far from the point of view of spectacle. But from a race strategy point of view it was quite interesting. It was less frantic than some of the races we have experienced so far this year and, surprisingly, there was no safety car. As a result the teams had some time to consider their options during the race. Many had planned to do the race on a two-stop strategy, which on paper was eight seconds faster than a three-stop, assuming you had a trouble-free run More…

On Tuesday John Surtees will be in Maranello with Ferrari, the team with whom he won the 1964 world championship, doing a variety of activities. Surtees remains the only man to win the world championship on both two wheels and four, something which as a keen biker myself I still find unbelievable. Of course there was no downforce on the cars then, as there is today, so the difference between disciplines was probably a little less, but it’s a mind blowing achievement. One of Surtees’ tasks in Maranello will be to record a short video for JA on F1 readers More…

On the eve of the European Grand Prix at Valencia, Fernando Alonso said all is not lost in his and Ferrari’s quest to win the world championship this year, but admitted that the team was having “a very bad year.” He also said that his own performance is as strong as at any time in his career and compared his performances to his team mate Felipe Massa, “These seven races.. I think I drove the best seven races of my career, with the best qualifying laps, compared to my teammate, compared to last year,” he said. After a slow start More…

I posted recently about the visual symbolism at work at the Montana Restaurant, next to Ferrari’s Fiorano test track, with Fernando Alonso’s presence increasingly clear. Here is the video I shot there on the night, which gives a better idea. In that post I forgot to mention that on that two day visit, organised by Shell to highlight their technical partnership with Ferrari, which traces its origins back to the very beginning of the Scuderia, we also visited the race bays in the F1 factory, where the cars are prepared. On the walls there are a number of large photos More…

Sebastian Vettel took his sixth pole in seven races and the 21st of his career at the Canadian Grand Prix. It was a close session with the Ferraris looking very competitive with Alonso and Massa right on Vettel’s tail. Mark Webber was fourth for Red Bull having lost the morning practice session to a KERS problem and it was not overcome before qualifying. So for him to be only 4/10ths off Vettel’s pace which is probably slightly less than KERS is worth, is a positive outcome for the Australian. The McLarens were not as competitive as expected with Lewis Hamilton More…

On my visit to Maranello this week organised by Shell, I was lucky enough to have dinner at Montana restaurant, which is right next to the Fiorano test track and which is like a canteen to Ferrari’s drivers and management. Montana is a key piece in Ferrari folklore – on the walls are helmets and signed sheets from all the key drivers in Ferrari’s history as well as others like Nelson Piquet. In the era of the Dream Team, it was a key part of the reason for the success as exiles like Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne and Jean Todt More…

The second day of my visit to Ferrari at Maranello was spent at the Fiorano test track driving 458 Italia cars with the Corse Clienti staff. As you can imagine it was an amazing day – the first time I’ve had a chance to drive on the Fiorano test track which sits right next to the Ferrari F1 factory. I’ve been to Fiorano many times, but there was always an F1 car pounding around testing. Those days are gone now. Instead the circuit is used for things like the Ferrari Driver Academy, which brings on young drivers using two year More…

I’m on a visit to Maranello for a few days organised by Shell and last night had the chance to go into the Gestione Sportiva, where we spoke with Matteo Binotto, who is in charge of the engine department. I was last there about eight or nine years ago and it has shrunk a bit in the interim with the engine restrictions in place there is no need for as many people – or engines – as in the Schumacher days. Roughly half of the space is dedicated to building the race engines for the Scuderia as well as for More…

It’s a throwaway line, but amusing nevertheless. In today’s Gazzetta dello Sport Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey is asked how he feels to have caused Aldo Costa to lose his job. Costa was moved out of the role of technical director at Ferrari this week, as the team felt his technical leadership was not going to take the team to where it can compete with the dominant Red Bulls. Newey says, “It’s nothing to do with me, but I am sorry for Aldo.” He then asks reporter Pino Allievi who will make the Ferrari cars now and is told More…

The sun is shining, the harbour is full of big boats and the competition looks very exciting this weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix. You can tell that the drivers are really pumped up about this race and several of them have a chance as things look after the first day of practice. As the world pulls itself out of recession, there is a real buzz about Monaco this year. There are some monster boats bobbing in the harbour, the corporate execs are happy to be seen here again after wearing sack cloth and ashes for a year or two. More…

The Horse Whisperer, Ferrari’s legendary blogger, who is wheeled into action only occasionally on Ferrari.com to pump out usually quite feisty messages, has awoken this weekend. The target of its wrath is Spanish journalist Raul Romojaro of the leading Spanish sports paper AS, who wrote a piece saying that the president of Santander, Emilio Botin, had had harsh words with Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali during the recent Spanish Grand Prix weekend about the team’s performance. The article was picked up by the Italian media and caught my eye in today’s Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy, which brought it pretty More…

The Spanish Grand Prix was a strange one for Ferrari, with Fernando Alonso rocketing into the lead at the start and then sliding backwards as the race went on, later to be lapped by the two leaders. He now lies 67 points behind Sebastian Vettel in the drivers’ championship. There were a number of problems on Sunday for the Scuderia, but the main one was the car’s inability to generate heat and grip in the new hard Pirelli tyre. Alonso showed his determination to get a result for his home fans and to celebrate his new five year contract with More…

The news today that Fernando Alonso has signed a new five year contract keeping him with Ferrari until the end of 2016 has been met with an interesting reaction in the Barcelona paddock. Alonso himself appeared in the press conference and said that the whole process of contract renewal had taken only two weeks from start to finish. His reason for committing the rest of his career to the Scuderia was very clear, “I think the intention is to keep enjoying racing, ” he said. “For sure, I think I’m in the best team possible to fight for World Championships. More…

Fernando Alonso today committed his future to the Ferrari team, with a five year deal which will take him though to the age of 35. Alonso spoke of “ no doubt ending my F1 career” at Ferrari. Alonso, who narrowly missed out on last year’s world championship in his first year with the team, was praised by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo as “a driver who has always demonstrated a winning mentality even in the most difficult circumstances,” a reference to the disastrous final round of 2010 in Abu Dhabi, where the strategy let him down, but also to his More…

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has made a strategically timed intervention in the saga of what happens next with F1′s commercial rights. It comes as rumours intensify that Montezemolo will meet with Daimler boss Dr Zetsche (ultimate boss of Mercedes) and Dietrich Mateschitz, who owns Red Bull as well as a representative of McLaren (likely to be Mansour Ojjeh) in Stuttgart this weekend to discuss the team’s next move. “I think we have to be very pragmatic. At the end of 2012, the contracts of every single team with CVC will expire. So, we have three alternatives,” di Montezemolo told More…

Ferrari have been worth watching this weekend, as they attempt to claw back ground lost to their rivals at the start of the season. And team boss Stefano Domenicali said that the turnaround won’t happen over night, but that the target is to have a winning car in Canada. On Friday they ran a wide range of new parts on the car, some for use this weekend, others for possible use in Barcelona in a fortnight. There was a new front wing, with many detail changes from the previous model, a rear wing, which seems to have got the thumbs More…

Despite the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend being back to back with Malaysia, the three main managers of Ferrari’s F1 team have made a 48 hour return trip to Italy this week to try to resolve some issues relating to the performance of the cars. Team boss Stefano Domenicali, technical director Aldo Costa and his deputy Pat Fry made the two day round trip to investigate why the car is not performing the way the simulation tools say it should. The problem is particularly clear in qualifying. Downforce is central to this. Massa said on the eve of the Malaysian More…

Eleven of the twelve Formula 1 teams were out on track today at Jerez for the start of the second official F1 test ahead of the F1 season. Only HRT was absent. The team has opted to take part in a Pirelli filming event in Italy rather that test alongside the other teams this week in Spain. Felipe Massa set the pace in the new Ferrari on the first of his two days in the car. He did not get as much mileage in the car as team mate Fernando Alonso in Valencia after an oil leak. The afternoon session More…

There’s a very interesting little note on the Ferrari website this evening saying that the new Ferrari F1 car will be designated the F150, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. The Italian flag, the “Tricolore” will be more prominent than before. The 2009 Ferrari was designated the F60, to commemorate Ferrari’s 60 years in the sport, underlining that the team is the only ever present in the 60 year history of the sport. That was a political statement in F1 terms, reminding the FIA, FOM and the new teams who want to have an equal say More…

Fernando Alonso always looks determined, that’s part of his make up. Now with his Zorro moustache and beard and the intense look in his eye, he looks like he should have a cutlass in his hand, rather than a steering wheel. But you can see he is focussed on winning this year’s world championship with Ferrari and expunging the awful memories of last November. To say that last year’s campaign ended badly would be an understatement; the bad pit call in Abu Dhabi turned an eight point championship lead into a heavy defeat, probably the heaviest he has suffered in More…

Ferrari, 5 wins, 2 poles, 3rd in Constructors’ Championship There are so many ways to look at the story of Ferrari’s 2010 season, but let’s start with the helicopter view, the overview in other words. Ferrari hires Alonso (finally) gives him a winning car and despite a few mistakes he establishes himself as clear number one, takes the chances, wins races and then loses the title at the last round due to a bad mistake on strategy by his team. The inescapable conclusion from this is that Alonso owed Ferrari one after his early season mistakes, but he made good. More…

Since I posted this morning Ferrari has announced the major changes that team boss Stefano Domenicali hinted at. According to the team’s website, “Neil Martin takes on the role of heading up the new Operations Research department. A 38 year old Englishman, Martin previously worked for Red Bull and prior to that McLaren and he will now report directly to Technical Director, Aldo Costa. “At the same time, Costa’s deputy, Pat Fry will, in addition to his current role, take on the job of head of race track engineering. Up until yesterday, this position was held by Chris Dyer and More…

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali has done an interesting interview in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica today in which he puts out some important messages about the year ahead and states his position in terms of his role as team principal. He points out quite clearly that there has been massive change behind the scenes at Maranello and that the new structure and the fruits of that reorganisation will become clear soon. Domenicali reminds everyone that Ferrari is a “business” and that unlike great soccer managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson, he is in charge of everything, including the money, More…

A small note, but an important one on the status of the two Ferrari drivers going into next season. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has made the point today that the two drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will start next season with equal status, after the team backed Alonso from July onwards last season. And it seems that Massa backed up his team mate in exchange for an agreement that they would hit the reset button at the start of 2011. So it will be up to Massa to beat Alonso or face a similar situation in the second More…

The Italian press were at Maranello the other night for a dinner to look back over the season and look forward to the next. President Montezmolo hosted the event, along with team principal Stefano Domenicali, who still enjoys the full support of the Ferrari board. There were suggestions in the Italian papers today, however, that some changes of personnel may be made before the start of next season, with senior engineer Chris Dyer, the Australian who is believed to have been at the centre of the decision to pit Alonso at the wrong time in Abu Dhabi, in the cross More…

There has been quite a bit of chatter in Italy in the past couple of weeks about Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo considering running for office backed by his “Italia Futura” group of leading Italian industrialists, entrepreneurs and thinkers. But Montezemolo says it’s not the right moment to enter the Italian political scene and that he does not want to leave Ferrari. The members of Italia Futura are urging him to seize the moment and come to the rescue of the country. He however appears to be pushing back on this, saying, that he will not go into politics, at More…

The tension is showing in the run up to the final pair of races in this year’s world championship as the three team bosses fighting for the titles lead their troops into the great unknown at Interlagos. And with it has come a suggestion from Red Bull that if Fernando Alonso wins, there will be a stain on the result because of the team orders row back in July. “It would be frustrating (if Alonso won the title) because we’ve obviously worked under the auspices that team orders have been illegal,” Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner told BBC Radio. More…

The Red Bull pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber set the fastest times on the first day of free practice on the Marina Bay Circuit. The Red Bulls looked back to their best after two races on tracks which didn’t play to their strengths in Spa and Monza. The cars look fast on a single lap and on long runs and are getting the soft tyres to last well. Vettel said that he’s pleased with the pace, but he has convinced himself that the rain is going to play a part in the weekend. This would be a shame More…

We are now getting into what is known as the ‘Business End” of the season and with five drivers still in with a shout of the title, separated by a scant 24 points – less that the points from a win – it’s shaping up to be the most exciting finale in recent F1 history. Five drivers can win it, no-one knows for sure who will. But one thing is certain – four drivers will lose it. No-one wants to be left in that position and thus the whole issue of team orders and teams prioritising one driver over the More…

The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is the fastest event of the season and it is a unique layout as far as F1 is concerned. The average speed of the lap is 250km/h and the top speed is 345km/h. It is essentially a series of long straights linked with chicanes. There are only three corners; the two Lesmo bends and the Parabolica.

Because of the relative amounts of time spent on the straights and in the corners, teams have traditionally chosen to run the cars in ultra low downforce configuration to minimise drag on the straights, considering this to be a greater gain than having extra speed through the corners. A car using Monza wings will generate 25% less downforce than the same car with Monaco wings on.

But this year the drag reducing F Duct rear wing has changed the game. This is a device which allows engineers to have their cake and eat it – in other words they can have low drag without sacrificing downforce.

Interestingly Ferrari’s top speed at the weekend was more or less the same as last year at 338km/h, but the lap time was 6/10ths faster this year. Much of that is to due to the F Duct.

Engineers I spoke who had carried out direct comparison tests on Friday found that the F Duct was up to half a second faster than the low downforce specification. But only those with an efficient system.

And as there is something to be gained from having a bit of extra downforce in the three corners and in stability under braking, there was an advantage to using the F Duct – but only if you have an efficient system, which sheds enough drag and doesn’t lose downforce.

Therefore a glance at the teams who chose to race without the F Duct – Mercedes and Force India being the most obvious examples – reveals the teams with the system which is the least efficient, and therefore they were too slow in a straight line with it fitted.

One of the things which made it such an interesting weekend was that there was a mix of solutions. And one of the secrets of success this weekend was having a Monza wing with an F Duct in it, rather than a compromise wing.

Button's F Duct, note steep wing angle

McLaren’s drivers went different ways. Jenson Button went for the F Duct and a higher level of downforce than any other driver, preferring the feel of the car in the corners, while Lewis Hamilton went the traditional route with skinny rear wings. After qualifying he was wondering whether he had made a mistake, as he was down in fifth while Button was second. We will never know how it might have panned out in the race as Hamilton crashed on the opening lap.

Hamilton's low downforce wing without F Duct

In other words, unlike Ferrari they had not built a specific Monza spec wing with F Duct. It worked well enough for Button, but one wonders whether that fraction of extra straight line speed for Ferrari might have just made the difference.

Ferrari’s solution featured a smaller air pipe inside the engine cover. Also the wing had a smaller flap with a completely flat profile, the main profile was completely flat.

Renault too had a Spa wing and it wasn’t fantastic, hence Kubica’s relatively poor 9th place on the grid.

Engine use
Most drivers opted to use a new engine for qualifying and the race. The engines are at full throttle for 73% of the lap in Monza, the most of any circuit, so a fresh unit is considered an advantage.

All drivers are allowed a maximum of eight engines per season and most of them took a seventh new engine at Monza, with the exception of the two Renault drivers (6th engine), the two Ferrari drivers (8th engine). Other exceptions this weekend were drivers who opted not to use a new engine, Mark Webber and Rubens Barrichello, who have used six engines each and Pedro de la Rosa, who has now used nine. His car will be taken over by Nick Heidfeld at the next round and he will carry on with the same allocation of engines.

Engines used so far in 2010 season
01 McLaren Mercedes Jenson Button 7
02 McLaren Mercedes Lewis Hamilton 7
03 Mercedes Benz Michael Schumacher 7
04 Mercedes Benz Nico Rosberg 7
05 RBR Renault Sebastian Vettel 7
06 RBR Renault Mark Webber 6
07 Ferrari Felipe Massa 8
08 Ferrari Fernando Alonso 8
09 Williams Cosworth Rubens Barrichello 6
10 Williams Cosworth Nico Hülkenberg 7
11 Renault Robert Kubica 6
12 Renault Vitaly Pertrov 6
14 Force India Mercedes Adrian Sutil 7
15 Force India Mercedes Vitantonio Liuzzi 7
16 STR Ferrari Sébastien Buemi 7
17 STR Ferrari Jaime Alguersuari 7
18 Lotus Cosworth Jarno Trulli 7
19 Lotus Cosworth Heikki Kovalainen 7
20 HRT Cosworth Sakon Yamamoto 7
21 HRT Cosworth Bruno Senna 7
22 BMW Sauber Ferrari Pedro De La Rosa 9 (Nick Heidfeld’s car now)
23 BMW Sauber Ferrari Kamui Kobayashi 7
24 Virgin Cosworth Timo Glock 7
25 Virgin Cosworth Lucas Di Grassi 7

Jenson Button maintained a narrow lead over Fernando Alonso for the first 36 laps of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, but lost the race when he pitted first. It was a game changing decision by McLaren. After the race Button said it was the wrong decision, while McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh said it was the right one. So what is the truth? Did the call to pit Button before Alonso cost him what would have been a historic and memorable victory? Button got the lead at the start, but it was clear from the performance of the Ferrari that More…

The full reasons behind the decision of the World Motor Sport Council in the case of Ferrari’s team orders in Germany has been published and it is clear that the governing body has turned a corner from the Max Mosley era. Yesterday the WMSC decided to uphold the decision of the Hockenheim stewards, that Ferrari had broken Article 39c of the F1 sporting regulations banning team orders, but as it could not prove it on the balance of probabilities, it could not take any further action or press home a charge of bringing the sport into disrepute. The team orders More…

As Ferrari arrives in Monza for its home Grand Prix, there is an interview with Fernando Alonso in the Gazzetta dello Sport, which makes for interesting reading. It’s a wide ranging discussion with Ferrari’s lead driver and in it he admits that he’s made mistakes this season, but that driving for Ferrari you are more under scrutiny. He says that he isn’t giving up on the championship, explains the key to being fast at Monza and touches on other interesting topics. Asked whether he agrees that he’s “made many mistakes” this year he says, “Yes. In the past I made More…

The German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, an opinion leader in F1 circles, has published a table reviewing the finishing record of the Formula 1 teams in the season to date. Ferrari comes out well on top with an astonishing 1471 racing laps covered, out of a maximum of 1474! Fernando Alonso’s engine failure in the closing stages of the Malaysian Grand Prix is the only blot on its copybook. Felipe Massa has a flawless finishing record. And interestingly Red Bull has come out second, with 1,373 laps covered. This is despite a reputation for shaky reliability early in the More…

A day on from the furore over the Ferrari team orders row in the German Grand Prix, it seems to me that there has been a bit of an overreaction, with some sections of the media calling them ‘cheats’ and others calling for them to be banned by the disciplinary arm of the World Motor Sport council. This is nonsense. Yes, it is a serious situation because they violated a rule which says that team orders are banned. And we should be in no doubt, despite the denials of Alonso that team orders were invoked here. But you have to More…

The German Grand Prix at Hockenheim will be remembered for the team orders row which blew up after Ferrari ordered Felipe Massa to let Fernando Alonso through, but it was also notable as a confirmation that Ferrari has made great progress with its car after a period in the first third of the season where it fell behind in development.

Unlike Red Bull and McLaren, Ferrari has been obliged to copy both of the key technical innovations of the 2010 season; the F Duct rear wing and the blown diffuser. McLaren invented the former and Red Bull the latter so both have had half the work to do compared to Ferrari in overall incorporation of new tech.

Ferrari worked first on the F Duct and got bogged down with it, then the blown diffuser was introduced later. The signs were clear in Montreal that Ferrari had taken a step forward and then in Valencia they introduced the blown diffuser. In Silverstone the step in performance was confirmed with Alonso being barely a tenth off the Red Bulls through practice and the early part of qualifying, but at Hockenheim it all came together and Fernando Alonso qualified on the front row, with Massa just behind. In the race, Ferrari had better race pace than Red Bull, indicating that they are contenders for the second half of the season.

Ferrari updates get them in the game
Hockenheim was the third outing of the blown diffuser introduced in Valencia and detailed changes to the exhausts and floor optimised the solution together with a refinement of the F-duct system. Ferrari have modified the side channels of their diffuser. This one now sports a wider and diagonal opening compared to the standard perpendicular one seen in Valencia when the solution was introduced the first time.

Ferrari also had a step on the front wing, which improved the overall downforce and stablity of the car, leading both drivers to talk of greatly improved grip and driveability. Another big step from Ferrari is due at the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August, where heavily revised back end aerodynamics will be brought out.

Mercedes rear wing
Mercedes, for its home race brought an array of small developments, the main one being to the rear wing main profile, now featuring two big slits in its central section, to increase the efficiency of this element producing a slightly increased downforce load. The main feature is a double large opening, placed in the middle section of the main profile, mimicking the effect of an additional flap. This solution helps in terms of increasing the downforce load generated by the wing. Mercedes do not have the full active F Duct system operated by the drivers, as used by its rivals, they have a more passive system. It was useful in Germany, although the car is still short of the pace of its rivals and will be even more useful in Hungary.

McLaren blown diffuser
McLaren ran the blown diffuser all weekend in Germany, although their deficit to Ferrari and Red Bull in qualifying and at the end of the race indicates that there is still work to be done to optimise it. In Silverstone they removed it after Friday practice because it was overheating components in the rear suspension and the on-off nature of the exhaust gas pressure, combined with the bumps in the Silverstone track was causing instability.

In Germany they introduced modifications to reduce the overheating problems and now the exhaust pipes are in a more external position , sporting a diagonal cut instead of the perpendicular one adopted previously. This is still a work in progress and McLaren now need to add the next step in performance to stay with the Red Bulls and Ferraris.

Team orders returned to the top of the agenda in Formula 1 today as Fernando Alonso took the win in the German Grand Prix thanks to his team mate Felipe Massa letting him through in the closing stages, despite leading the race from the start. It is a tough moment for Massa and a hard call for the team to have to make. Although the message was coded it was unmistakeably a team order, which are banned in F1. The team will also know that Massa’s motivation will have been torpedoed by this moment. It was Alonso’s second win of More…

The row over Fernando Alonso’s penalty at Silverstone for overtaking Robert Kubica illegally and failing to give back the place has moved on a step. Ferrari sporting director Massimo Rivola today released a minute by minute account of Ferrari’s actions during the period after the disputed overtake. He reveals that Ferrari was on the radio to FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting within 14 seconds of the incident. Alonso passed Kubica for fourth place by cutting off the circuit. He did not give the place back straight away and soon after the Renault hit technical problems, slowed and then retired. Nine More…

It has been confirmed by Ferrari that Pat Fry, formerly one of the two chief designers at McLaren, is to join the team as assistant technical director. He is latest in long line of engineers to move between Maranello and Woking. It is a well trodden path for engineers, especially for aerodynamicists. This year John Iley came to the UK, while Nicolas Tombazis has moved both ways. Fry was in an alternating design role at McLaren with Tim Goss. This year’s car is Goss’, last year’s and the 2007 car were Fry’s. He was due therefore to be in charge More…

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has attacked the new teams in the aftermath of Fernando Alonso losing the Canadian Grand Prix. “In modern F1 races cars with GP2 levels of performance shouldn’t participate,” he said in Gazzetta dello Sport. Montezemolo may have been referring to Jarno Trulli’s Lotus and perhaps the Hispania of Karun Chandhok, which was being lapped when Alonso lost a place to Button. “Our car had the pace to win, I hope in the future there are no more errors in lapping cars which are to our disadvantage, ” he added. “We already gave.” Ferrari have always More…

The controversy over the Red Bull collision on Sunday has taken attention away from what was a very painful weekend for Ferrari, as it celebrated its 800th Grand Prix. Not only has the team fallen further behind Red Bull and McLaren, it has also been passed on pace by Mercedes and Renault. In the last two races, Robert Kubica has qualified ahead of both Ferraris. Ferrari has played the history card very strongly in the last two seasons; it was one of its main strategies when standing up to Max Mosley, FIA president at the time and refusing to accept More…

This weekend at the Turkish Grand Prix a lot of attention is likely to fall on Felipe Massa. A three times winner of the Istanbul race, this is a weekend when he needs to show that he still has it in him to take Ferrari to the winner’s circle and to run his team mate Fernando Alonso close. If Red Bull still has a big margin over the rest, as is expected, then Massa’s minimum task is to beat Alonso. He should have great confidence he can achieve this on a track which he “owns” and where he even had More…

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has given a series of interviews lately, as Ferrari celebrates 800 Grand Prix starts and the most recent one is in today’s Gazzetta dello Sport. In the interview he deals with Alonso’s recent mistakes, hints at some possible changes in the team and says that Ferrari wants to go back to using its Fiorano test track. He also reveals that Ferrari has saved 30% this year compared to its budget of two years ago before the teams got serious on cost cutting. On the subject of Alonso he says that he’s delighted with him both More…

Welcome to our look-back at the key decisions which made the Monaco Grand Prix. Monaco is normally a frustrating race for team strategists. Qualifying is so important, it sets the tone for the race and only the start and the sole pit stop give any real opportunity to gain track positions. That said, a safety car at the right moment can make a big difference and this is what happened for Fernando Alonso. For the rest, the start was decisive in the battle between Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel, while the timing of the pit stop led to some changes More…

I’ve been thinking about the Monaco race and it occurred to me that something really remarkable happened on Sunday, which no-one has commented upon. Alonso’s fightback from the pit lane to finish sixth was achieved in a car which was a box of bits on Sunday morning. Built in a hurry, without any shakedown or warm-up, it was sent out into the race and performed perfectly for two hours, getting a single set of tyres to last 77 laps. If you think about it, this is quite incredible. We take it for granted these days that the cars perform and More…

Michael Schumacher’s cheeky attempt to steal sixth place from Fernando Alonso in the Rascasse corner in today’s Monaco Grand Prix has been deemed illegal by the race stewards, of whom Schumacher’s former rival Damon Hill was a member. Meanwhile his former Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali described the move as “really dangerous.” The safety car had been deployed for the fourth time during the final laps when Jarno Trulli and Karun Chandhok collided at Rascasse corner. Schumacher’s move came on the final lap, as the safety car peeled into the pit lane to allow the cars to cross the finish line. More…

There has been an interesting reaction in Italy to Fernando Alonso’s accident, which put him out of contention for today’s Monaco Grand Prix. Alonso cut a dark, brooding figure yesterday during qualifying, having sidelined himself with an accident during free practice. His chassis was destroyed as the suspension pierced the tub. Spare cars are banned and the rules state that he has to start today’s race from the pit lane in a car made up from a spare monocoque. Alonso lost control of his car at Massanet corner, as he braked from 170mph down to around 60mph for the left More…

It has long been rumoured but now it’s official – Jean Todt’s son Nicolas is launching a bid to run his own F1 team, taking his highly successful GP2 team ART GP into the sport’s highest category. With the failure of USF1, there is a 13th slot on the grid for next season and the FIA is inviting applications from teams wishing to fill that slot. Stefan GP has indicated its intention to apply, but Dave Richards’ Prodrive outfit and Lola have both said that they will not. As with last year’s applicants, teams will be subjected to a financial More…

Felipe Massa looked rather dejected all weekend. He was asked after the race by Italian colleagues whether this was because of the rumours that Ferrari was thinking of replacing him with Robert Kubica, “I’m not happy because the whole winter test I was 110% happy with the car the way I drive. I started the first race and I was 120% happy with the car. We did a great job in the first race. The last four races have been harder tyres than Bahrain and I can’t use them like I want, I need to understand, I’m a little bit More…

There was a curious incident during qualifying when Fernando Alonso exited his pit garage and almost drove straight into Nico Rosberg. The German braked hard and an accident was avoided, but Rosberg called for a penalty for the Spaniard over the radio and the FIA stewards decided to fine him and the Ferrari team $20,000 for unsafe release. It was a bit like a footballer who calls for a fellow professional to get a yellow card. Operationally it was unusual that there was no Ferrari mechanic in the pit lane in front of the car, looking to see if the More…

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time on the first day of practice for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. The German, who has had three pole positions already this season and one win, easily topped the times in the faster second session in the afternoon. He set a lap of 1m 19.965, which is 1/100th of a second slower than the outright fastest lap in qualifying last year. Red Bull team mate Mark Webber was second fastest with Michael Schumacher in the revised Mercedes third. The Red Bull pair were separated by just 2/10ths of a second. Many rivals, including More…

Tomorrow afternoon (Thursday) we will be in the pit lane in Barcelona closely studying the updates the teams have brought to their cars for the start of the European season. It will not be as radical as last year’s first European event, when the race was on to fit a double diffuser as soon as possible to many cars. Nevertheless this year we will see some major aerodynamic and mechanical updates and F duct rear wings, the devices which ‘switch on’ at top speed to allow a car to shed drag on the straights, first pioneered by McLaren. The Ferrari More…

Fernando Alonso has been speaking about life at Ferrari in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The Spaniard has claimed Michael Schumacher’s decision to turn his back on Ferrari in favour of a return to Formula 1 with Mercedes GP has helped him settle in more quickly with Italian team. Alonso, who won the season opener in Bahrain and currently lies third in the championship with 49 points, is clearly enjoying competing at the front again after spending two relatively uncompetitive seasons at Renault and feels the absence of Schumacher, both as a driver and Ferrari team consultant, More…

Fernando Alonso has been speaking in Madrid today at a press event organised by Ferrari sponsor Santander. The 28 year old said that he was relatively pleased to have got through the opening four races with the points he has and believes his title challenge is on target. Alonso lies third in the championship with 49 points after one win and two fourth places, behind Rosberg on 50 points and championship leader Button on 60 points. More importantly his competitive instincts have been revived after an uncompetitive 2009 season with Renault, where he could not contemplate winning, even in the More…

The incident where Fernando Alonso passed Felipe Massa on the way into the pits in yesterday’s Chinese Grand Prix has sparked a great deal of debate and is likely to be the subject of a significant amount of internal discussion at Ferrari, once everyone finally gets back to Maranello. Will the management want to calm the troubled waters or express their admiration for the killer instinct of their new driver? It didn’t kick off in Shanghai, because Felipe Massa chose to play it straight and not moan about his team mate’s actions, as many drivers would have done in the More…

Ferrari lead both the drivers’ and constructor’s championships after the first three races of the season and have shown that their pace is closest to the Red Bulls, but there is an uneasiness about their position at the moment, particularly in light of the operational and reliability problems they encountered in Malaysia. The engine which let Fernando Alonso down on Sunday will arrive back at the Ferrari engine department today for examination, while yesterday’s debrief at Maranello focussed on the wider reliability problems, with both Saubers’ Ferrari engines breaking and the mistakes made in qualifying which led to Alonso and More…

Today was a real vindication of the decision taken last summer by Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali to stop development of the 2009 car and throw everything at the 2010 model. The Ferrari was the best car overall this weekend in various conditions. It was quick on the single lap, quick on the soft tyre at the start of the race when the car was heavy and quick on the medium tyre in the second part of the race as the fuel load lightened. The Red Bull may have been quicker in the soft tyre parts of that, but when the More…