Silverstone Gp : pics of Fernando Alonso podium in Silverstone !

Silverstone Gp : pics of Fernando Alonso 1st pole of the year !

Silverstone Gp : Alonso & Massa Saturday quotes

* Fernando Alonso: "I want to dedicate this pole position to María de Villota primarily because it is a particularly difficult moment. We all feel a bit of sadness in these days and we are close to her and her family. This pole was a surprise because in these conditions you never know what can happen. This morning on the dry track the car was very good but this could be different on wet, even if the F2012 does never proved wrong, as in Malaysia and the Mugello. This afternoon we had to be in the right place at the right time with the good tires and to succeed, need some luck. For once we have had, as in Q2 where I managed to spend in Q3 narrowly after the break. In the final round I had a car before and the visibility was really limited then there was yellow flags in the last turns but in the end I still could qualify me. The pole today  is very important, even though we know that it arrived in special conditions. We have to get on the sec order to say that we have make up the gap on the top. Tomorrow  I hope a boring race for a time that I leave before everyone."

  

* Felipe Massa: 

"it is an achievement for the team knowing that when the red flag came , Fernando and I weren't some access in Q3. We have a good job in the resumption of the meeting for the latest rounds of Q2. In Q3 I fight for the pole position but I lost time on the last lap, I blocked the rear wheels, the fifth position is a place that satisfies me. I think I will be competitive tomorrow  because the car is appropriate for that track. Since the Canada, the F2012 has progressed well and the results are the reward. I think the cut in Q2 was positive, perhaps even that it helped us because there was a lot of water in track and the water was present and that even in a straight line. Then, the FIA has done an excellent job to set conditions for resumption to give the spectators a show in line with their passion. "For us, the break was long, but for all those who were in the stands that would be worse due to the rain!"

Silverstone Gp : the grid . Fernando on pole !!!

Silverstone Gp : Alonso & Massa Friday quotes

* Fernando Alonso: 

"there is little to say this afternoon, let alone less than usual for a Friday. We have made very few laps due to rain and also to the fact that the number of tires rain train is limited by regulation, it makes no sense to leave. It is better instead to preserve the tires since not very encouraging forecasts, it must rain all weekend long. In other circumstances, if the rest of the weekend was dry, we could do more laps , but in these circumstances, as I said, it is really not the case. On a wet track the car appears to be well, but it is virtually impossible to say where we are compared to others. Hope that tomorrow morning we can make a few laps on dry to at least have an idea approximate of the behavior of Soft tires and Hard ones that Pirelli has led here. The output of track to the end? The car was in water and it has eluded me. It damaged  the front wing and now we need to see if we can repair. "

* Felipe Massa:

"the weather has made the difficult day, it rained all the time and this has upset our program so we decided to make little laps to preserve the tires for tomorrow and Sunday. 

Obviously, we could not test as we wanted, especially regarding the news that we have made for the grand prix. I have three timed laps, it is therefore impossible to say though is on the behaviour of the F2012 on this track. Tomorrow, whatever the conditions, we will try to do more towers to be as well prepared as possible for qualifying and the race. We will try to do what we can. "

Shakedown F150

A few News :
- to save his budget and especially to avoid building a second wind tunnel, Ferrari has used the Toyota one to develop its F150.
- Aldo Costa has told that the aero of the F150 will be redrafted by Bahrain and the car will evolve very much by the first race.
- Ferrari team thinks there are too many buttons on the steering wheel of an F1 car today and it removes the drivers for his driving:
"We have reached an unacceptable level"said Aldo Costa, Technical Director Ferrari, according to comments reported by Autosport. The Italian has revealed that the technical working group of the F1 is already addressing the issue. "We conduct simulator evaluations. We want to determine if the pilot can physically manage all these elements. The situation is somewhat extreme ."
"There is so much to do on the wheel, but we still drive the car" , Massa noticed a few weeks ago.
Alonso noted that the complexity of flying affects the reaction time in the cockpit. And in rainy conditions "when visibility is poor the tasks become more difficult."
- Friday afternoon, Fernando Alonso gave the first laps at Fiorano to the F150 for the filming of an ad and Saturday it was the turn of Felipe Massa. On this occasion, Ferrari has invited more than 15,000 people club members meet for Ferrari drivers and attend the shakedown.

The Ferrari drivers helmets for 2011

Here are the Ferrari drivers helmets for the 2011 season.
what do you think of ?

Wroom last day

Friday was the last day for wroom on which occasion Luca di Montezemolo has come to join in saluting his troops and also Valentino Rossi. Friday was also the day set aside for fencing competitions to end these meetings. the afternoon there was a slalom competition with victory for Giancarlo Fisichella and the evening there were two races : one on ice in a kart and one in a Fiat Panda, both won by Fernando Alonso ! Shortly before those two races, Luca Badoer said goodbye to Formula 1 driving a F60 with Pirelli snow tires on ice.
* a few news :
- Fernando Alonso has launched a new helmet (as you can see in the last picture) where the blue is present.
- Saturday morning Fernando went to Maranello for molding his seat. he was able to see for the first time the new Ferrari and has also attended a small meeting with engineers Aldo Costa , Nikola Tombazis and his race engineer Andrea Stella . Felipe Massa has done the same today .

Wroom day 4

On Thursday January 13th , Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa gave a press conference and then were able to taste the joys of skiing. The day ended with a meeting with 4000 fans who could get autographs and have also been able, for some, a chance to ask some questions to the pilots. This meeting ended with a beautiful fireworks. Ferrari drivers have finally finished the evening around a campfire.

Summary of Domenicali's press conference

Yesterday Stefano Domenicali gave a press conference during which he returned on several topics: * First, he insisted that the priority for Ferrari this season is to win the two titles and have the best car of the grid .
* Then he thinks that Ferrari will have an advantage for the use of KERS, at least early in the season, thanks to their experience in 2009.
* Secondly, stefano doubts the effectiveness of the removable rear wing in place this year to facilitate overtaking because as a new technology it will have time to be mastered to perfection. Furthermore he wonders how tv viewers will know that a driver uses this system as it will only be active on certain portions of the circuit and that it is only through a slot on the wheel of the driver the pilot will know when to use this system.
* Domenicali also returned to the instructions issued in Germany and that he not regretted having taken this decision because the rest of the season gave him reason, for , without this error strategy , Alonso would surely have been world champion . More the case had contributed to abolish the regulation for 2011.
* Finally, to the question of whether Massa would remain after 2011, Stefano has not responded directly preferring simply to emphasize that he hoped that Massa would be better this year alongside Fernando Alonso.

Wroom days 2 and 3

Wroom continues and the days of Tuesday and Wednesday were devoted to relaxation and skiing for the drivers except for Fernando Alonso who has not raced due to a small injury in the leg. nothing serious but he must remain at rest for 1 week. Meanwhile Fernando posed for giving us some nice pictures. Felipe Massa and his brother Dudu skied with some friends.
we also learned that the Ferrari will be presented Jan. 28 at Maranello.

Wroom day 1 : some pics

Here are some pics of the first day of the wroom meeting where the Ferrari(Fernando Alonso , Felipe Massa , Giancarlo Fisichella , Marc Gené and Jules Bianchi)and Ducati(Valentino Rossi and Nicky Haiden)drivers are actually meeting .

What's new in Maranello ?

* Fernando Alonso will inaugurate the new Ferrari with chassis number 288, during initial testing at Valencia on 1 and 2 February before leaving his place to Felipe Massa.
* Luca di Montezemolo thinks that in summer, especially in July and August, it would be good to delay the races start until 17h to enable viewers to have their afternoons free and enjoy their holiday. In reality this is not really a problem since in Europe the summer sun sets to 20h.
* Ferrari has completely redesigned its aero department including a blower updated. This to counter Red Bull which , last year, had excelled in this field.