F1: Ferrari Encouraged By Update Package

Formula 1

F1: Ferrari Encouraged By Update Package

Fernando Alonso failed to crack the top three in both of Friday's practices...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted November 02, 2012 Abu Dhabi (ARE)

Fernando Alonso is second in the World Championship. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Ferrari technical director Pat Fry is optimistic about the improvements brought by updates tried on the F2012 Friday, even if the headline low fuel times didn’t appear to show that.

Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were only seventh and eighth, respectively, in FP2 after the Spaniard was fourth in the earlier session. Massa also looked good on race pace over a longer run.

The new parts are focused mainly on the rear wing.

“We are pushing as hard as we can to bring updates to every race,” said Fry. “Some of the ones we introduced here seem to be positive, but we must carefully evaluate their performance and then decide which to use in qualifying and the race. Felipe’s long run didn’t seem too bad, but clearly we have to improve our performance over a single lap if we want to start from the front row of the grid.”

“The morning session was dedicated to a comparison of various aerodynamic solutions, while in the afternoon, we concentrated on the tires,” said Alonso. “Between the first and second sessions, the track changed a lot, which to be honest was predictable, because there aren’t many races here over the weekend: at the start, it seemed very dirty but then it improved a lot and tomorrow, it will definitely be even better.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.