Ferrari happy with their first day at Spa
The race at Spa has always been thrilling and adventurous. This year again the first practice day had been full of drama and challenges as Friday’s morning practice was hit by rain showers. Then the second practice was red flagged because of unsafe conditions for spectators. That gave less practice time to the drivers on the first day.
With such a situation one cannot predict clearly for the upcoming race though some minor predictions could be drawn. Anyhow, one thing that is clear is that Ferrari proved to be in form and quick. Ferrari driver, Fernando Alonso, was able to demonstrate a great pace in both the practice sessions.
Stefano Domenicali, the team principal talked to the media after the two practice sessions ended saying, "Given the way things went in both sessions it is really difficult to give a correct evaluation of the situation, that is the main reason that one must be very cautious in terms of drawing any conclusions from the two sessions”.
He said that some of the teams seem more competitive now than their previous form, which could result in some big surprises this Sunday. Moreover, he explained that the team had tried to improve their car immensely like upgrading their aerodynamic components etc.
However, he ended saying that the track at Spa is full of uncertainties and one could expect anything to happen here on the final race day.
Fernando Alonso was the happiest driver of the day, but he too was uncertain saying that, "The impression one gets on Friday does not always get confirmed on Saturday and Sunday, therefore we have to evaluate today's results with a lot of care”.
Furthermore, he added that no doubt it was a positive day for the team and they returned from the first practice with much hope and motivation for the upcoming race.
He was glad to say that the car responded very well on the entire track and that gives him a lot of encouragement.
The other Ferrari driver, Felipe Massa returned from the track saying, "I am very happy to be back racing at this track, having been forced to miss it last year, I love driving here”.
He was quick to second his teammate’s views, saying that the car seemed very competitive especially with rain tyres.
Yet he exclaimed that it was only Friday, so he could not say anything for sure and that Red Bull had not demonstrated their true pace so far.
He explained that they had tested so many things this afternoon which is why they had a few slow laps.
Chris Dyer, the current chief track engineer of Ferrari said, "it was quite a complicated day because the weather evolved continuously. On top of that came the red flag in the final part, which considerably reduced the amount of time we could run in the dry”.
Well, for Ferrari over all the day had been a great one as both the drivers were pleased with the way their F10 had been performing all through the day. Also, various new components that the team had to test today went pretty well for them.
So far there had been predictions of rain on both the qualifying as well as the race day.
The team is yet to decide if they have to go for the set-up of car that would suit the wet track more or would it be better to go for the dry configuration.
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