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Ferrari have reportedly made another key appointment this year as the team managed to sign Dirk De Beer, Lotus' current head of aerodynamics. He is expected to begin work at the end of the year.
Alonso will not drive at opening Jerez test
Fernando Alonso will not take part in the opening pre-season test of the year, Ferrari confirmed on Thursday. The driving duties are instead set to be allocated between team-mate Felipe Massa and development driver Pedro de la Rosa.
Massa will start the team's 2013 Formula 1 preparations by driving on the 5, 6 and 7 of February in southern Spain, before de la Rosa makes his Ferrari debut on the final day of the test. Meanwhile, Alonso will be focusing on an 'intense' training regime.
For the second gathering at the Circuit de Catalunya, Alonso will enjoy the first three days of testing from 19-21 February, before Massa takes over for the fourth day. The final test, taking place at the same venue, will be split evenly between the pair.
Ferrari will launch its new contender at its Maranello factory on Friday 1 February. The presentation is set to be streamed live via the Italian team's official website.
Well, they worked alongside in McLaren and Alonso rates him highly.CjC wrote:This's a bold move by Ferrari. Not that Alonso needs track time, but to give De La Rosa track time? Bizzare.
It can't be that the Ferrari is a dog (we don't know if it is or not) and needs a good test driver to sort it out, surely the best driver on the grid would be the better test drive? Alonso knows what he wants from the car to win, but how could Pedro know what Alonso wants from his car to win?
Strange to call 5 podium finishes in a row "a very bad shape". Being beaten by Massa two times in qualy might speak of some tiredness, but it might be just unhappy incidents.Lurk wrote:Alonso ended last season in a very bad shape
Put it this way...Pedro has been accustomed to pick up the smallest of issues, where as Alonso feels the car whilst racing on the circuit...now most people will say "How does this make them different".CjC wrote:Perdo is rated highly, but with testing so limited....
Then again, if I remember righly other teams have ran the test driver in the past so they arent doing anything that unusual. Anyway Ferrari know what they are doing better than I do
Sounds plausible. Pedro being arguably the best test driver today will analyse the data collected by Massa on the first two days of testing. Alonso will take it from there for 3 days in Barcelona, assuming Pedro and Ferrari have made the right improvements and analyse the changes from a more advanced stage. By the end of the 2nd test, Alonso and Massa get equal time in the car, with Pedro also having played a crucial role.Hail22 wrote:Put it this way...Pedro has been accustomed to pick up the smallest of issues, where as Alonso feels the car whilst racing on the circuit...now most people will say "How does this make them different".CjC wrote:Perdo is rated highly, but with testing so limited....
Then again, if I remember righly other teams have ran the test driver in the past so they arent doing anything that unusual. Anyway Ferrari know what they are doing better than I do
During tests Pedro will literally be a human "Sensor" as he has been so used to driving sims and testing cars he will be able to pick up some things that Alonso may not.
Analogy (possibly incorrect this is reference to testing capabilities...by no means individual driver performance!)
Alonso: Fantastic driver, great at finding major and some small faults in the car whilst on race weekends...however In my humble opinion looks for medium to large performance gaps.
Pedro: A walking, talking and driving analyzing computer sensor, he can and probably does pick up small vibrational issues in not only suspension links, tyres, cockpit vibrations, etc...to me he seems more sensitive to his environment as he has been used to purely testing and analyzing data for Formula 1 teams most of his life.
I was only talking about his physical shape, not his results. He was quite exhausted at the end of each race the last 2 months of the season, way more than any other driver.timbo wrote:Strange to call 5 podium finishes in a row "a very bad shape". Being beaten by Massa two times in qualy might speak of some tiredness, but it might be just unhappy incidents.Lurk wrote:Alonso ended last season in a very bad shape
Ah.. Yeah, but he had same thing happening some previous seasons as well.Lurk wrote:I was only talking about his physical shape, not his results. He was quite exhausted at the end of each race the last 2 months of the season, way more than any other driver.
