Fernando rounds off a fantastic pre-season

The countdown to the start of the Formula 1 World Championship has now begun. The final pre-season testing ended with the rain dominating proceedings. Fernando Alonso cannot wait for the Australian Grand Prix, where his F150th Italia will be making a stronger start when the competition proper begins

The pre-season is now over. Testing in Montmeló ended with an unexpected guest: the rain. The outlook for the final session of practice was dominated by rainwater, which flooded the Catalan track. The teams were able to complete only a very few timed laps, and mainly set about testing the extreme wet weather tyres.

The morning’s session was notably quiet. Ferrari, Williams, Mercedes and McLaren spent much of the day working in their garages. The drivers preferred to take no risks. It was three hours before the first lap time was set.

Alonso and Ferrari played a very modest role. The Italian scuderia was hard at work in the pitlane, with the Spanish driver completing just a few installation laps and performing race start and pit stop simulations. Fernando’s efforts also focused on the performance of the new tyres. The rain offered a useful opportunity to try out the way the Pirellis behave in extreme rain.

Schumacher and Alonso were the only drivers not to set lap times. Both dedicated themselves fully to exploring the behaviour of their single-seaters on the wet tarmac. Mercedes showed signs of its potential with Rosberg’s strong performance during the afternoon, although given the poor weather conditions the times are not significant.

Nico Rosberg took it upon himself to break the ice. The German driver was the fastest around the Montmeló circuit, setting a time of 1:43.814 to claim a dominant position. The second-fastest time was set by Maldonado (1:44.333), followed very close behind by Hamilton (1:44.560). They were the only three drivers to set times during this practice session.
 
Surprise guest on day one in Barcelona

Michael Schumacher showed just why he has Fernando Alonso looking over his shoulder. The developments fitted to his Mercedes performed outstandingly, putting him ahead of the ‘big names’ on the grid, such as Vettel, Button and the Ferrari driver himself. The Spanish driver was just three tenths of a second back, ahead of Nick Heidfeld who lagged some way behind.

The most notable aspect was the substantial mileage clocked up by the F150th Italia over its 141 laps, and the increasingly typical signs of reliability.
 
No sense of pressure

Fernando Alonso was keen to dispel any indication of pressure ahead of the official start to the season in Australia, making it clear that to win would be “fantastic, but if we don't, we will try again next year”. The Spaniard also summed up a pre-season which ended with the rain taking centre stage on the final day, while regretting not having had a chance to try out the intermediate tyres.

The two-time world champion is clearly keen to make the podium in Melbourne, while pointing out that the aim is to have a good race, since at this point he has no idea of “where we are compared to the others”, given such unpredictable factors as the new tyres. What is more, he admitted that he will need to keep a very close eye on his immediate rivals, in particular Michael Schumacher. “He is the driver I most respect, but that does not make him the most dangerous,” he suggested.


The curtain falls on pre-season. The teams now have two weeks to fine-tune their race cars. The countdown has begun: the Australian Grand Prix will be staged on 27 March.