Fernando Alonso Ferrari F1 Aftershave Commercial – New Carjam Car Radio Show 2012

Ferrari Video Ranking: four / 5

FERRARI STUMBLE AT THE BLOCKS

If the Ferrari faithful were worried by their team’s performance in the first Grand Prix of the season in Melbourne, they will be keeping a close eye on the Ferraris during practice at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. Sadly, there’s not a lot to reassure them – no miraculous return to form for the Italian team, who did not come out of winter testing with stunning progress to boast about.

The new F2012 again looked sluggish in practice, and Felipe Massa in particular looked uncomfortable. “I would say that, at first glance, the situation is not that different to last week,” admitted Pat Fry, Ferrari’s technical director. “Nor could it be any other way, given that the cars are more or less identical to the way they were in Melbourne.”

Fernando Alonso claimed 5th place in Australia, which is a decent enough result, considering he started in 12th having spun off onto the gravel in qualifying, but Massa was unable to complete the course, retiring after a collision with his compatriot Senna.

But in Malaysia, with two practice sessions done, the pair look little better than last week. In the morning session Alonso and Massa came 13th and 15th respectively, but Alonso’s performance improved in the afternoon as he finished 6th fastest in the rankings. Felipe Massa explained this lack of pace by pointing out that they were tinkering with various setups and options rather than going for the fastest possible times.

“We [Fernando and I] went in completely different directions which in my case did not work, but at least it allowed me to understand a few important things about the handling of the car,” said the Brazilian. “Now my engineers and I know what is the right direction to go in, which makes me feel more optimistic for qualifying compared to how I felt about it last week in Melbourne.”

F1 2012 – Ferrari F2012 launch – Interview Luca Marmorini

Ferrari Video clip Ranking: five / five

FERRARI STILL STRUGGLING

Ferrari may still have to experience another tough year this season. Gary Anderson, the former Jaguar and Jordan designer has singled out Force India and Lotus to impress in this season. On Thursday, the Irishman stood near the trackside and told a German magazine Speed Week that Mark Webber in his RBR car suffered from a bit too much understeer in the brand new RB8.

However, he admitted that the team is possibly experimenting with set up, as McLaren and Red Bull so far have been model students as far as handling is concerned. Meanwhile, Paul di Resta of Force India did not appear impressive at the end of the day time table, but Gary Anderson told that he was very surprised with the long run consistency of the Force India car VJM05.

He told that both Nico Rosberg and Paul di Resta were passing around at the same time and Force India car was faster compared to Mercedes as they were suffering from the degrading tyres.

Gary said that Lotus had to miss last week in Barcelona, but today they could confirm their good impression of Jerez. Ferrari cars are looking slightly handful, particularly when it comes out of a corner trying to put the power down. There is no doubt that they have some issues with their car, but it does not appear as bad as McLaren looked last year.

But as far as Red Bull is concerned, they are must be ready for a tough battle this season. It will not be a cakewalk like last year.
This time teams like Lotus and Force India will be huge threat to the entire big league of teams.  Lotus’ car is fully sorted and the lap times are consistent.

Best sound ever Ferrari F1

Ferrari Video Ranking: 5 / five

Ferrari F1 Burnout – F2008 Fisichella At Ferrari Racing Days Shanghai

Ferrari Movie Rating: 4 / five

Top Gear Ferrari F1 vs F50

Ferrari Video Rating: / five