F1: Ferrari In Reasonable Shape

Formula 1

F1: Ferrari In Reasonable Shape - Fry

Ferrari technical director upbeat about performance at Barcelona...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted March 02, 2012 Barcelona (ESP)

Ferrari's Brazilian driver Felipe Massa drives at Catalunya's racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona, during the Formula One test days on March 1, 2012. (Photo: Getty Images)

Ferrari technical director Pat Fry says the team is optimistic about the team’s prospects after the first two days of testing in Barcelona.

Felipe Massa drove yesterday and Fernando Alonso today, both men logging a lot of miles as the car performed reliably.

“I think we can say we are in reasonable shape,” said Fry. “Sure, you always try and be half a second quicker than everyone, knowing you are lapping constantly with 60 kilos of fuel on board. Clearly, we have a lot of work ahead of us, but all we can do is keep pushing on this front.

“We ran a mix of used softs and mediums for the simulation and now we must analyze the data in detail to understand where we are compared to the others,” said Fry. “Initial impressions suggest the difference between one stint and another can be put down to the normal difference between tires that have done different mileages. Some show significant degradation, others less.

“There will be other new components coming on the car for the final two days and then we will try and put together the best from every configuration for the first race.”

Ferrari has been running with a different exhaust spec, and Fry admitted that the original version needed some work.

“We started off with an exhaust system configuration that was particularly aggressive, but after last week’s test, it was clear this solution still required a lot of development before it could be used in a race. We opted for a more conventional configuration.

“Obviously, having developed the car to suit this innovative exhaust concept, now we must re-optimize everything in just the few days left before Australia. There aren’t major differences between the two systems in terms of performance, but we really need to analyze everything in detail.”

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.