My name is Alonso, I solve problems. Fernando Alonso could present himself in this way, the increasingly number 1 driver of a Ferrari who now venerates him without even hiding it anymore. And with good reason…
Two years ago, with a single-seater clearly inferior to the Red Bull competition, he managed by pure genius to fight for the world title right up to the last race. (Even losing it, it should be remembered. The fault of a moment of mental confusion on the little wall of the Cavallino. But he too, the driver, had done a few things during the year: and it all ended in tarallucci and wine). Last year, inferiority was even more pronounced and the World Cup ended well in advance. Bad, it must be remembered. And this year, a new single-seater presented a week ago in Maranello under the snow, unable to carry out the first test on its home circuit, and making its debut on Tuesday this week in the general pre-season tests in Jerez de la Frontera. And here, that bit of optimism still alive in Ferrari seemed to melt away in the shy sun of southern Spain: Massa always far from the leaders; full of beautiful words (…great potential; it's not the times that count…). But the F2012, seen when cornering, seemed to be in trouble.
And then, here is Alonso. A minimum of apprenticeship not without technical problems due to long stops in the pits, and then off to the track. To try. Pursuing what was the only goal of a single-seater at the beginning of its life: going fast. Because to improve reliability, between now and the start of the championship, there is plenty of time, tests, work in the factory. But the F.1s that one day will be successful, must at least go fast in their first steps. It's the law of racing. Breaking, maybe. But if speed is lacking…
I'm Alonso: I solve problems. Those of the Ferrari F2012, the Spaniard solved them early on Friday morning. Asphalt still chilly (about 6 degrees), air not much above zero, soft compound Pirelli tires (yellow sidewall) that Massa hadn't been able to use in the previous days, and here was the tempo: 1'18”877! In what was the fourth and final day of testing, nobody beat him. Only the Frenchman Grosjean, with the surprising Lotus that earned the returning Raikkonen the lead on the first day, did better than him on Thursday.
Already others? Quite far. He hit the pace of Hamilton's McLaren; but he ended up behind Alonso by about 8 tenths, and his medium compound tires were worth a lap delay of about 6 tenths, therefore less than what he actually accumulated. The new Red Bull, on the other hand, is fine. His times say little: but the pace on the track first of Webber and then of Vettel, the ease of chronometric progress as the set-up becomes more refined, say that without a doubt, once again this year anyone aiming for the title will have to deal with the single-seater-can of energy drink.
Final assessments: Lotus surprise aside (the team has modest means: it will be difficult to ensure the technical development possible for a top-team during the championship), Red Bull and McLaren are undoubtedly in great shape. Nothing can be said of Mercedes, author of both Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg of excellent times, but with last year's single-seater, therefore still free from the 2012 regulatory penalties that prohibit blown exhausts and other devilry of the past. The Toro Rosso was brilliant: the Faenza-Anglo-Austrian single-seater presented on the track immediately before the tests and immediately fast, up to the second fastest time on Friday thanks to deb Vergne. But these are ratings on a different level - far from the top of the podium.
And Ferrari… Ferrari barely got away with it. It took Alonso, perhaps also inspired by the Jerez grandstands, full of his compatriots applauding him before F.1. But fast, concentrated, constant, capable of concluding – Friday afternoon – with a series of standing starts, crowning long technical meetings in the dark from the pits. But the times, and in comforting continuity, have arrived. For now, that's enough. Next episode: more tests in Barcelona in a few days. Two more series will follow, again in Spain, before the debut of the World Cup on 18 March in Melbourne.
The times of the 4th day in Jerez: 1. Alonso (Ferrari) 1'18”877; 2. Vergne (Toro Rosso) 1'19”597; 3. Vettel (Red Bull) 1'19”606; 4. Hamilton (McLaren) 1'19”640; 5. Grosjean (Lotus) 1'19”729; 6. Kobayashi (Sauber) 1'19”834; . . .
