F1: Alonso Pleased After First Run With F138

Formula 1

F1: Alonso Pleased After First Run With F138

Fernando Alonso turned his first laps Tuesday in the Ferrari F138 after skipping the recent test in Jerez...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted February 19, 2013 Barcelona (ESP)

The new Ferrari remains a work in progress. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Fernando Alonso professed himself happy with the Ferrari F138 after trying it for the first time in Barcelona on Tuesday.

Alonso, who focused on data gathering and tire work, finished the day with the third fastest time.

“I feel reasonably pleased with this first day,” he said. “And I can say I share Felipe’s (Massa, teammate) opinion that the car is on another planet compared to the one we began with on the first day of testing last year. The program for this first session in Barcelona is aimed mainly at improving reliability, with the target of completing more than a hundred laps every day.

“Then, at next week’s test, we can concentrate on performance. Tomorrow, we will complete what we were unable to do today, and we will focus on car setup, to adapt it as well as possible to the tires. I knew from looking at the Jerez data what sort of car I would find here today, as in fact we know more or less what we will see at the first race in Australia, in terms of what new parts we will have and how many tenths they will produce.

“This is down to all the work done over the winter in the wind tunnel and the numerous tests, which confirm that the parts that are on their way will give the expected results.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 28th season as a racing journalist in 2012. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.