Alonso plays down Ferrari expectations

In front of 36,000 fans yesterday in Valencia, Fernando Alonso made his debut as a Ferrari driver and promptly recorded the fastest lap of the week. While Alonso praises team-mate Felipe Massa for setting up the new F10 challenger, he is refusing to get carried away by the F10’s early form.

“I concentrated mainly on getting to know the car,” the double world champion explained. “There were many new things for me here, such as the Schubert helmet and the Brembo brakes I had never used before. I must say that I felt at ease immediately thanks to Felipe’s work during the last days, the car went well and it was fast; it had a good set up, too, which is positive.

"It’s absolutely impossible to say where we stand compared to the others,” he continued. “I didn’t watch them closely, because I had too much work to do with my team. Anyway it’s far too early to say anything. There are so many unknown factors and it’s a bit like training for football teams, you never know if they’re playing with two goalies or only with their second team.

"It’s true, we drove many laps over the last three days. To be competitive you need a reliable car and we’re on the right track. The technicians have lots of data now to prepare us the best possible way for the next tests. It’s important that the data we had before we came here has been confirmed on the track. We need to continue like this and in the last tests, we need to try to find the car’s limit."

Alonso was impressed by the fans’ enthusiasm: “I knew that many fans had been expected here, but this was something else. We’re in the middle of the week and it’s incredible to see so many people on the grandstand. This was a very special day for me. Not only because I finally had my debut in red, but it’s also my father’s birthday, who was here with me. I enjoyed every single one of those 127 laps.”

Alonso is back behind the wheel for the first day of testing at Jerez next Wednesday.