Getting a racing license at 21.....when Vettel at that age is already at the top of F1......

I assume Ferrari told Masa that he could ease off 2010 for his racing injury and try get his feeling back for 2011, but in the mean time... is the battle for which Alonso has to perform.

Massa is smaller than Ferrari. You really think that they would tell any of their drivers to "take it easy"? Ferrari wants ideally to have 1&2 and 100% performance each race for the entire season and any attitude other than that is unthinkable. For Felipe 100% means "after Alonso but ahead of everyone else".

the pressure is on massa more the alonso. massa is the one that has the experience at ferrari you would expect him to adopt to the ferrari better then alonso initially. i think it will be though times for massa.

I think the pressure is more on Ferrari than either of the drivers. Ferrari did not deliver in 09 and with all of the press about releasing Kimi and signing Alonso, the team has to deliver a car capable of winning races.

Is there a VROOM event this year? tradionally that's where we see new drivers in Ferrari colours for the first time. Doesn't seem there is one this year though

The team said they signed Alonso because they thought he was better than Kimi. So the pressure is on BOTH the team AND Alonso to prove it is the case.

Maybe towards the end of January, right before the presentation of the new car and the tests?

I think it's going to be during 11th - 16th January.


But then Domi said he didn't expect Alonso could have driven the car any better than Raikkonen. He was brought in 'to improve communication with the engineers'

So, IMO, the pressure is on Alonso 'the great car developer' to finally come out of hiding and produce another winner.

So you would give the merit for a winning 2010 Ferrari to Alonso?

He gave himself merit for the winning 2007 McLaren...

I don't think we can dispute the words of someone that's escaped a record amount of WMSC hearings without punishment. Alonso does not lie.

Seems you are avoiding a straight answer. No surprise.

The pressure is on all the other teams now that Alonso has a top drive again

I don't think so. When Massa was there and Kimi was arriving, the pressure was immediately on Kimi to keep Massa at bay (and he wasn't a WDC at that point). He struggled in the two seasons. The pressure this time is on Alonso for sure. He's already a 2 time WDC, who holds himself in high regard. The articles about his car development (at Renault and McLaren) and race craft and speed (Mr 6 tenths) etc point to all the pressure on him being one of the top 2 drivers in F1. Alonso was signed to produce the goods, he has to as Kimi was meant to.

There's no pressure on Massa really. If Massa wants to beat Alonso, then yes he will have the pressure on. But its generally viewed in F1 that Alonso is the stronger driver, so he must prove this, otherwise a few good results by Massa will pressurise Alonso (and he's not fantastic at handling it when it comes from a team-mate).

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp...54322&FS=F1



If that is true, then FU Ferrari .

So Alonso will drive the new car(?)....for all three days?

Great news. That's the way to go

Massa will most probably get the next three days...

They also my be doing half days, so Alonso might do the 1st full day, then on the 2nd and 3rd him and Massa might share the car.

Massa could drive on all three days too. So let's wait and see.

Whats wrong with Alonso driving in the morning and Massa in the afternoon for example?

I think that Motorsport has misinterpreted the text. I don´t think Alonso will be driving the 3 days, but if he does, I´m sure at the end of march Alonso and Massa will have tested the same amount of days.

And at Mercedes Rosberg will have the car at that first three days of testing. It means nothing. Ferrari, as well as Mercedes, will distribute testing days equally between their drivers, I'm sure of that.

why the **** dont they just allow two cars, stupid testing rules. If they bring one or two cars will make no difference in budget

Fisichella had such problems, Ferrari cars are so different to the others. It is only fair to give Alonso more insight. Massa knows his car through-out.

The report said the 28-year-old Spaniard will drive on all three days of the session
It does not say that Massa will not...

No, it says that Alonso will drive for the first time for Ferrari in these days.



This sentence doesn´t imply he will be driving all three days.

That's incorrect. Bild reported a few days ago that both Rosberg and MS will share driving duties on each testing day. Same as with Mclaren. I expect Ferrari will do the same.

That's probably the best approach to car development with current rules. With two driver inputs engineers could benefit more from feedback as they develop setup and test new parts.

Does it indicate that he alone will be driving for those days?

No. I can´t provide you with a good translation, sorry , but I´m spanish, and what i understand is that Alonso will be in Cheste driving the Ferrari the days 1,2 and 3 of February. But that doesn´t mean he will drive all three days.

I don't think that it's clear from the article if Alonso will drive the car first as this site has correctly mentioned

Alonso to debut in 2010 Ferrari

The original Europa Press source mentions nothing that would suggest that the two Ferrari drivers wouldn't split the days testing and the has been no word from Ferrari about it either.

Why couldn't Massa test for 20 laps and then Alonso for 20?

In fact I read somewhere that Massa will be the first to drive the new car to compare it with the F60.

i was thinking it would be fisichella since he had the most recent version of f60 and would be a reference point compared to f61.

QFT

I thought adapting to the F60 was down to Kers and the effect the powering up stage had on braking.

Yea, thats a large part of it. The rest is also down to the limited amount of ballast they had(due to KERS) for setting up the car, the different weight distribution for the same reason, and of course, the Ferrari was lacking in downforce compared to the other teams near the end.

Linky from highdownforce's post on other Ferrari Thread.


http://mantovani.zip.net/arch2009-12-01_20..._50-100063171-0

If Fisi couldn't get a handle on the old car, any 'reference' he has is not going to be ideal information for the team.

It really doesn't matter who drove the old car. Ferrari will know what it was capable of and will be able to have some kind of reference for the new one, especially with windtunnel/CFD numbers.

it's not f2010 related, but...

how long do we have to wait to see any pics of FA in a rosso corsa suit ?

someone I personally know was in a Ferrari Store (in Italy, new years trip) and there was not any caps, shirts, .... with FA but big discounts on Kimi's

Late February to mid March for new season related team merchandise I think is the norm for McLaren and Renault at least.

I don't think he even has a driver profile on their website yet but Kimi's is still there.

Nope, at least in Italian version.

http://www.ferrari.com/Italian/Scuderia/Fo...ia_Ferrari.aspx

http://www.ferrari.com/Italian/Scuderia/Fo...nsoProfile.aspx

Seems to be on the English version as well, since I only checked yesterday or the day before it seems to only just be updated.

Here you can buy FA - Ferrari merchandising, don't know if they're official products or not.

Fernando to be introduced as Ferrari driver on tuesday on a press conference, according to Marca.

Some have suggested that we may see photos of Fernando in some sort of team gear on Monday as that's when they should arrive at Madonna di Campiglio, but the actual press meeting is a you said scheduled for Tuesday.

Most are expecting the Ferrari launch to take place around the end of the month.

Ferrari F2010 launch expected at end of January

http://www.ts.fi/f1/uutiset/101510.html

TS has heard from it's sources that engineers in Maranello are very happy with the weight distribution of the new car and that's why they have been so quiet.

I heard this from finnish friend, not sure about how correct translation it is.

after the F60, everything will make them happy...

2010 will be the make or break year for Domenicali/Aldo team

Sounds like the new Ferrari is codenamed 281.

Anyone know why?

From Twitter:
NobleF1 Ferrari confirms its new car, codenamed the 281, will run for the first time at the Valencia test from February 1. Expect a launch before

Poor reporting there, the last two Ferrari F60 chassis were 279 driven by Kimi and 280 driven by Fisi. Chassis 281 is simply the first 2010 Ferrari chassis to be built, 282 will be the second 2010 chassis and so on....

Oh, I see.

Perhaps that's what he means.