European GP - The wrong tack around the harbour
Valencia, 23 June
The paddock area in Valencia used to be home to the world’s most famous sailing race, the Americas Cup. In that event for the best yachts and yachtsmen in the world, gambling on tacking just before or after your rivals could either put you in a very strong position or leave you trailing in the wake of the opposition. Today in qualifying, Scuderia Ferrari took something of a gamble, with the aim of having plenty of fresh tyres for Q3 in order to get as high up the grid as possible in the final top-ten shoot-out. Unfortunately, it did not pay off and both Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were marooned in Q2, while the ten fastest sailed off into the distance.
Disappointment and frustration therefore sums up the mood in the Prancing Horse camp this evening, as the engineers sit down to work out the strategic choices for tomorrow afternoon, knowing that getting the Spaniard and the Brazilian up the order from eleventh and thirteenth respectively on the grid is no small task. Starting from the sixth and seventh rows of the grid is always a difficult scenario, but more so at a track where even with KERS and DRS, overtaking involves the cooperation of both parties. The front row might not have been on the cards today, even though the F2012 continues to move forward on the development front, but a better result than this was definitely available when one looks at the lap times.
What are the positives for tomorrow’s eighth round of the World championship? Ironically, the first is the extra sets of new Soft tyres that were not required for Q3. In the extremely hot weather predicted for tomorrow afternoon, that could be crucial. Ferrari’s KERS has usually helped us rocket off the line and make up a few places immediately. Then there are the usual advantages of having Fernando Alonso keen to show his home crowd that he can deliver a good result wherever he starts, while Felipe Massa is brimful of confidence having found out, a few races back, how to get the best out of his F2012 after a difficult start to the year. However, 57 laps of this track is no easy task and of course there are the cars in front to contend with, starting with Sebastian Vettel who took his third pole of the season for Red Bull. Alongside him is series leader Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren, while Row 2 features Barcelona winner Pastor Maldonaldo in the Williams and Romain Grosjean, fourth for Lotus. Next up in fifth place is the Frenchman’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who has the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg outside him on the third row. Fernando shares his row with Michael Schumacher in the other Mercedes, while Felipe has fellow Brazilian, Bruno Senna next to him in 14th place in the Williams.
The paddock area in Valencia used to be home to the world’s most famous sailing race, the Americas Cup. In that event for the best yachts and yachtsmen in the world, gambling on tacking just before or after your rivals could either put you in a very strong position or leave you trailing in the wake of the opposition. Today in qualifying, Scuderia Ferrari took something of a gamble, with the aim of having plenty of fresh tyres for Q3 in order to get as high up the grid as possible in the final top-ten shoot-out. Unfortunately, it did not pay off and both Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were marooned in Q2, while the ten fastest sailed off into the distance.
Disappointment and frustration therefore sums up the mood in the Prancing Horse camp this evening, as the engineers sit down to work out the strategic choices for tomorrow afternoon, knowing that getting the Spaniard and the Brazilian up the order from eleventh and thirteenth respectively on the grid is no small task. Starting from the sixth and seventh rows of the grid is always a difficult scenario, but more so at a track where even with KERS and DRS, overtaking involves the cooperation of both parties. The front row might not have been on the cards today, even though the F2012 continues to move forward on the development front, but a better result than this was definitely available when one looks at the lap times.
What are the positives for tomorrow’s eighth round of the World championship? Ironically, the first is the extra sets of new Soft tyres that were not required for Q3. In the extremely hot weather predicted for tomorrow afternoon, that could be crucial. Ferrari’s KERS has usually helped us rocket off the line and make up a few places immediately. Then there are the usual advantages of having Fernando Alonso keen to show his home crowd that he can deliver a good result wherever he starts, while Felipe Massa is brimful of confidence having found out, a few races back, how to get the best out of his F2012 after a difficult start to the year. However, 57 laps of this track is no easy task and of course there are the cars in front to contend with, starting with Sebastian Vettel who took his third pole of the season for Red Bull. Alongside him is series leader Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren, while Row 2 features Barcelona winner Pastor Maldonaldo in the Williams and Romain Grosjean, fourth for Lotus. Next up in fifth place is the Frenchman’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who has the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg outside him on the third row. Fernando shares his row with Michael Schumacher in the other Mercedes, while Felipe has fellow Brazilian, Bruno Senna next to him in 14th place in the Williams.
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