Ferrari end friday practice session on a strong note

By jay
September 10 2010

Ferrari notched up the second and the third fastest timing for the second free-practice session, which saw Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull post the fastest time of the day 1:22:839.

Alonso completed in all 32 laps clocking the second best time of 1.22.915, while Massa's run was halteded when he was forced off to the gravel at the Parabolica.

He could only complete 20 laps with a best effort of 1.23.061, before he was forced back to the pits, ending his session just under 30 minutes remaining in the session.

Ferrari were less impressive in the first practice session with Alonso and Massa clocking the 8th and 9th fastest time, as both struggled to find grip.

In the second session, Alonso, changed his rear wing, the improvement of which was visible as he started posting faster laps consecutively.

With the track nicely rubbered in, both drivers found good grip and posted quick laps, while the Mclaren duo of Hamilton and Button struggled with the softer compound with no improvement on their timings.

Stefano Domenicali was concerned for Massa when he spun in to the gravel.

“My heart missed a beat when Felipe ended up in the gravel," he said.

“It was lucky he did not end up in the barrier, as his car was going pretty quickly at the time. It was a shame, as he was improving his lap time, even if we know that Friday times count for little or nothing. The important thing is that we acquired a substantial amount of data which we will now use to prepare our cars as well as possible.

"This is an important event for us, both because it is our home race and because we are all aware of the situation in both championships. We will try and do the maximum, for ourselves and for our fans, although we know we are up against stiff opposition.”

While, Felipe Massa joked on his spin, and sounded positive about the car set up.

“At the end of the second session, I tried to copy Kimi and do a bit of rallying… Joking apart, I was really lucky when I went off the track. I was heading for my best time, when I found myself in Michael’s wake at the Parabolica and went off: I kept the accelerator pressed down in the hope I would manage to avoid hitting the barrier and I managed it, so I came straight back to the pits."

"Unfortunately, the car was slightly damaged, so I had to miss out on the final part of our programme. However, overall, it has been a good day in which we constantly improved. We had a lot of work to get through and at the start we struggled a bit, but then we found a good set-up and in the end I was reasonably happy with my car. We learned a lot about the handling of the F10 and now we have plenty of data to analyse to prepare as well as possible for what is such an important event, this being the Scuderia’s home race," he said.

Alonso spoke of the different set-ups the team tried to find the right combination to suit the track nature.

“We are pleased with what we achieved in these two free practice sessions. We tried different aerodynamic configurations and now we must study the data carefully to make the right choices for tomorrow and Sunday. This track requires a low level of aerodynamic downforce, but you need to find the right compromise, especially so as not to prejudice stability under braking: it’s true that top speed is important, but it is not everything."

"Between the two sessions, we made some changes on the car which seem to have moved us in the right direction, but we must keep in mind that we ran with various difference fuel levels. We have seen before that Friday’s results are very often turned on their head on Saturday, therefore I definitely don’t want to make any predictions. We have to focus on ourselves and do our utmost in qualifying and especially on Sunday, in the race. It will not be easy, because once again, Red Bull is proving to be very competitive and McLaren seems to be as strong as predicted.”

The morning session was topped by Jenson Button of Mclaren, while Sebastian Vettel was second, followed by Lewis Hamilton.