Quote:
Originally Posted by 04Stefan07
I have had no time to watch any F1 this weekend!
Been studying for exams at uni. What has been going on? How do Ferrari look?
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Hi Stefen,
What came as a surprise to some is that Ferrari re-signed Massa.
He has bounced back of late.
However, Red Bull have clearly brought some upgrades to the RB8's starting
from Japan onwards and the Ferrari's are struggling by comparison.
For example, the Ferraris were nearly half a second per lap behind the Red Bulls in
today's qualifying, similar to how they were outpaced in qualifying in Korea.
With Vettel now in the championship lead, Alonso might be watching his chances
slip away unless Ferrari can come up with some good upgrades for their cars.
As Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali said in an interview yesterday, in recent
years aerodynamics has become fundamental and it is clear to them that
other teams have done a better job than they have.
Chief Ferrari designer Nick Tombazis has promised an ‘aggressive approach to the
car development’ in this late phase of the championship, but with only four races
to go, they will have their work cut out for them.
But as we both know in the world of F1, anything can happen, as Alonso and
Webber can testify to in Japan.
In fact if it were not for Alonso's retirements at Spa and Suzuka, he would still
be in the lead.
Even today Vettel made an uncharacteristic brief error in Q3 from which he
recovered but if one comes off into the gravel traps in India, their race is over.
Corner 1 in India is similar to that in Malaysia and there is ample opportunity for contact
to occur going into it from the start, in which case the qualifying position deck
could be quickly re-shuffled. Corner 3, leading to the long back straight, is somewhat
hairier still, being a blind 1st gear turn as you come up the hill.
One thing for certain is that one should never underestimate the skill of Alonso.
Good luck with the exams!
