Ferrari still on top, now with Alonso

Quick post because it’s late. Fernando Alonso drove for Ferrari today and did the quickest lap of the Valencia test, a 1:11.470. No other team went under a 1:12 all week. Also relevant are the facts that he did it before another 8 laps and then pitting – meaning he still had some fuel on the tank; and that he did a pretty quick 16-lap stint that started on the 1:13s and ended on the 1:11s. I’m not sure that’s any better or worse than Hamilton’s stint yesterday though, so I’ll not jump on the bandwagon that Ferrari is in better shape than McLaren right now…

The times (copy-paste from Autosport):

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Alonso Ferrari (B) 1:11.470 127
2. de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari (B) 1:12.094 80
3. M.Schumacher Mercedes GP (B) 1:12.438 82
4. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:12.576 97
5. Button McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:12.951 82
6. Petrov Renault (B) 1:13.097 75
7. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:13.669 126

Other quick notes:

• Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher have hinted at that Mercedes is fairly competitive but Ferrari and McLaren are a little ahead at the moment. That’s consistent with the times we’re seeing. I think Merc has more tricks up their sleeve for the next few weeks though.

• I’m not fully convinced by Sauber’s pace yet – there’s no news of any impressive stints from them, only good laps on short ones. I think they’re behind Ferrari, Mac and Merc but don’t quote me on this.

• This was the first Formula 1 test ever for Vitaly Petrov, and also for Jaime Alguersuari (he only raced, never tested), they should be happy with the laptimes. Jenson Button sat on a McLaren for the first time and was a little unconvincing.

• Nico Hulkenberg continued his now 3-year long tradition of crashing on the first day of testing, as a small misunderstanding with de la Rosa forced the spaniard to pit and repair. Williams did no decent laps but will be very happy at the amount of them, with the new Cosworth engine avoiding failures so far.

Alonso’s new helmet

In Italy this week there was this sponsors event called Wrooom where the Ferrari drivers and Ducati riders compete in all sorts of ridiculous things, like Fiat Pandas in the snow, and skiing. This was one of the first official appearances of Fernando Alonso in Ferrari gear, and it just happened to reveal his helmet design, as they used helmets in several of the mini-games:

I’m not sure I like the light blue, but it sure is distinctive. The aces in the back remain from last year’s helmet in Renault and represent his two world championship titles, in 2005 and 2006.

Funny pic there with Bernie as flagman and Felipe, Fernando and Giancarlo in an… awkward pose. Speaking of Giancarlo Fisichella, the word around is that he surprisingly beat de la Rosa to the Sauber seat, after all. But it’s not officially confirmed yet.

Nice Alonso photoshop

Yet another thing taken from the forums (I need to get some new sources!!). This picture has been going around the internet and it looks great:

I’d almost start supporting Fernando Alonso and Ferrari if the race suit and helmet looked like that. Perfect. Reminds me that we won’t have to wait much for the team launches, another week or two and we’ll start getting some pics of the new cars, race suits and helmets.