Melbourne, 11 March – This weekend’s Australian Grand Prix is the most eagerly anticipated race for a very long time. If the sport had become a bit predictable in recent years, then this season is the antidote: never mind whose going to win Round 1 in Melbourne, the bigger question is who is going to finish, or perhaps even start?
During winter testing, the emphasis was very much on reliability, but now it’s time to go racing so, ready or not, the teams have to consider the practicalities of getting through a Grand Prix weekend. “On the mechanical side, there’s a huge increase in complexity, so just working out the best way to build the car, change parts, rebuild it and how to be best prepared in Melbourne is a major task” – says to www.ferrari.com the Scuderia’s Engineering Director, Pat Fry. “Through the tests we worked 24 hours a day, running shifts to ensure the car was ready, but once we get to Melbourne we are more restricted by the rules regarding what we can actually do and how many hours we are allowed to work.”
Fry reckons the whole face of an F1 weekend is about to change. “In the past, the reliability of Formula 1 cars has been incredible, but this year, their sheer complexity means it will be challenged, particularly in qualifying and the race.” While these initial concerns with reliability will dominate the early races, the actual management of the new powertrain is going to be an interesting new puzzle for engineers and also the drivers. “In some races, we will be fuel limited and we will have to work out the best way to save fuel,” explains Fry. “Effectively we will be balancing electrical energy against fuel consumption and it’s our job to work out what the best combination is for the race.” And once the teams get on top of that, there are all the other “traditional” factors such as aero performance and tyre management that haven’t just gone away.
The one area where Scuderia Ferrari has no concerns is in the men who sit at the wheel. Fernando Alonso and his new team-mate Kimi Raikkonen have three world titles and three Melbourne victories between them.
“First of all I think we need to make sure we finish the races,” Raikkonen said. “And if we do that we’re already in a good position. We want to improve in all the areas, and we have to first see where we are.
“I don’t have any interest in guessing where we’re going to be or what’s going to happen. All we can do is see on Friday a little bit, and go from there. I hope that if we get everything running smoothly and do the best job we can then we should be up there.
“We didn’t have the best test in the last days, but I think we did most of the things that we were planning to do, and we have to see how we start, try to do our best, definitely try and be up there and try to finish the race, and hopefully be on the podium at least.”
Kimi was unperturbed by the prospect of rain this weekend.
“I mean rain or dry doesn’t make an awful lot of difference right now, there are much more unknown things that has to be answered. We will see how the weather is, it’s the same for everybody, so we’ll do the best whatever the situation is.”
Meanwhile regarding Fernando Alonso he said: “We have a normal team mate relationship, we both try to do our best, and help the team as well as we can.”
“It is difficult to say [if Ferrari can win],” he said. “It is the aim for sure, but there are so many unknowns coming this weekend.”
“This event is an excellent test bench for the new Formula 1 format because Albert Park is a very demanding circuit when it comes to fuel consumption. Due to the characteristics of the circuit, we have always used a lot of fuel here so to manage to be sparing with it will be a demanding challenge.”
For Kimi it’s the start of his second career at Ferrari: “Some faces have changed but even if the atmosphere seems a bit different to me it’s still the same great team and I believe it has worked very well on this year’s car.” About the race he added: “We’ve only had a few days of testing available. In an ideal world we would have arrived with many days on the track behind us, with more experience of the characteristics of the car and race strategies. That’s not how it is but it’s the same for everyone so all we can do is go on the track and try to get the best result possible.
“More than the result we know that we have a lot to come on the F14 T so we are not worried. The car seems to have a good potential but we will have work to do to get the most out of it.”
Print view
Wed Mar 05, 2014 7:52 pm (Last edited: Wed Mar 05, 2014 7:53 pm)
reply
