Gene: Alonso is better than Schumacher

Ferrari test driver Marc Gene has revealed that he regards Fernando Alonso as the best driver he has worked with in Formula 1, which includes Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen, amid reports that the team supplies superior equipment to the Spaniard.

Alonso, with a new long-term contract, is widely regarded as Maranello’s number one driver, particularly with Felipe Massa struggling to match him over the past two seasons.

But fellow Spaniard, Gene told El Mundo newspaper: “I can confirm 100% that both Felipe and Fernando have the same materials at their disposal. If the results of Fernando have been superior it is because of his very high level.”

“I cannot judge what he did in his time at Renault and McLaren but I have worked with world champions Schumacher, Villeneuve and Raikkonen and Fernando is the one who impresses me the most,” said Gene.

“Before he arrived at Ferrari I had great expectations, and now that I’ve seen and studied and worked with him, I can say he has exceeded all of the expectations,” added the Ferrari test driver.

Gene, meanwhile, said he does not believe it would be the right move for Ferrari to abandon work on the 150 Italia car in order to ensure a more competitive start to 2012. “It is true that the gap to Red Bull is significant, even if there are many races left. But no gap is unbridgeable, especially for a team like Ferrari.”

He concluded, “Also, if it is right that the regulations for next year do not change much, it is still useful to develop the current car because these improvements can also apply to the next one. Ferrari’s philosophy is to not give up while the maths do not prove otherwise.”

Gene was Ferrari test driver from 2004 until last year. He still keeps close ties with the Maranello squad while campaigning for the Peugeot factory team in sportscar racing, including Le Mans. Gene competed in 36 Grands Prix for Minardi and Williams.

Source: YallaF1

Alonso 'confident' of better race-pace

Fernando Alonso is adamant Ferrari will fare better in Sunday's grand prix than during qualifying in China

The Spaniard claimed his third P5 in qualifying on Saturday afternoon, once again failing to challenge Sebastian Vettel and the two McLarens.

However, this time round, he was also beaten by Mercedes GP driver Nico Rosberg.

But despite his Ferrari being only the fourth best car in qualifying, Alonso believes he will be stronger in Sunday's race.

"We are more confident over the race pace than qualy," Alonso told Autosport. "We saw in the first two races.

"On Saturday we struggle a little bit more, so I expect tomorrow we'll have a little bit more of a competitive car and starting fifth anything can happen.

"The podium is still the target for us, the dream for us. If we can do it, okay, and if not fourth will be okay, if not fifth will be okay."

As for the Scuderia's performance in qualifying, which saw Felipe Massa claim sixth place behind his team-mate, the double World Champion said: "I think we did okay.

"Fifth and sixth at the moment is the maximum we can do with what we have in our hands. We delivered today what we are supposed to deliver.

"We already knew all about Red Bull and McLaren, but here we saw an improvement from Mercedes, so the situation is even more difficult.

"The main thing for us is to improve the car and the expectation for tomorrow is to have a clean race with no problems at the start, no problems in the pit stop, choosing a good strategy and scoring as many points as possible. "We need the points."

Source: Planet-F1

Räikkönen in better rhythm

The cold and clear weather helped Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström to a better speed on Saturday morning in Rally Sweden. Kimi was 8th on all four stages. He did best in Sågen where Kimi was 22,2 seconds from the top time when he had the difference of 30,4 seconds in the stage before that.

Räikkönen is now holding on to two points being 9th.

– The weather is now normal compared to Friday's snowstorm and it was pretty good driving, Kaj evaluated.

– We are on the ride with only one spare tyre so the balance of the car is a bit different. We already got it pretty good.

How big is the difference to last year when Kimi debuted on these roads?

– Because Kimi has drove here before, of course he remembers the places. First he didn't remember the last stage but once we took off he remembered it immeadiately.

The change of weather has of course changed the surface of the road too.

– It's not a that big change. The surface doesn't eat the tyres as much or wear them out, Lindström said.

Räikkönen has to shake himself awake because the rally begins so early.

– It always goes late in the evening here so we don't have much time to sleep. But it went okay. There isn't as much snow as it was on Friday. It's much more cooler to drive. The roads are great, Räikkönen said.

Turun Sanomat, Hagfors

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

Massa's Blog:“I can’t think of a better place to start again than at Spa”

I am preparing to leave Sao Paolo to return to Europe for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, having spent all my free time since the Hungarian Grand Prix at home here in Brazil. Usually, when you go on holiday it involves some sort of journey, but with all the travelling involved in my job, for me the ideal holiday is being at home and not having to see an airport, sit on a plane or stay in a hotel. Therefore, staying at home with my family was the ideal break for me, catching up with everything going on here and meeting up with old friends. During the year, when I get the chance to stay in Brazil for a while, I admit that I miss my home country for a while after I leave, but knowing that I am returning to racing again is all the incentive I need to get on the plane back to Monaco.

It’s winter time now in Brazil, but to put that in perspective, the daytime temperature is still around 23 or 24 degrees, so nothing to complain about! Apart from keeping up my fitness training, I really managed to switch off for a while doing very little, although last weekend, I was at the Interlagos circuit that hosts the Brazilian Grand Prix later this year: my family organises a racing event so it was good to hear the sound of racing engines again. We run three different race categories here, in conjunction with FIAT. One is an open-wheeler category, similar to Formula 2, called Formula Future, which as the name suggests is aimed at finding young racing talent from the next generation. It is an important step for racing here, as for many years there was no “school” class with single-seater cars, which is why we wanted to do something for motor sport in Brazil. There is a category for Touring Cars also, using the FIAT Linea and finally there is a 600cc motorcycle class. It was the third round of the season and it was fun to be at a racetrack without all the pressure of racing myself.

Although it was a very quiet holiday, I am fully prepared for this weekend in Spa, as I kept in touch with the engineers, even though they were not working in the factory. We look in good shape, with some new parts coming as part of our constant development programme on the F10. The last time I raced here was in 2008 and it’s not just because I won the race that I love this track. I think all the drivers look forward to racing on this fabulous circuit. It is high speed, requiring less downforce than at many of the other tracks and fortunately, in the last few races, we showed that we have returned to being very competitive, even better than we had expected. But it is very hard to predict what could happen, as the small differences between the top teams means that performance has been very much track specific in terms of who had the slight advantage over the rest. As usual we need to wait and see how free practice goes before knowing what to expect.

There are only seven races left to go and I think that for the spectators and viewers at least, it should be a really exciting final part of the year, even if it might be a bit more tense for those of competing. But myself and Ferrari have been in this sort of situation before and we know how to deal with the pressure, by concentrating on the job in hand. Now we must build on the way we ended up just before the break, being competitive and putting ourselves back in the fight. I am definitely really motivated to get back in the cockpit because, even if I enjoyed the short holiday, I have to say I missed driving my race car and I can’t think of a better place to start again than at Spa. Even if it rains – and when didn’t we see water at Spa? – this is still a very enjoyable track to drive and actually it can be good fun in the wet. We just have to make sure we are ready to make the most of whatever the weekend throws at us.

Source: Massa's Blog - Ferrari.com

Co-driver promises: Kimi can do much better

Kaj Lindström, who reads notes for Kimi Räikkönen in WRC, is convinced of the former F1 driver's talent in the rally car

-We've made progress in every race which is the most important thing for us this year, Lindströn said in a press release of the Citroen junior team.

The next WRC race is driven on Germany's tarmac roads next weekend.

-Our performance in the first asphalt rally in Bulgaria was the most impressive one this season. I know that there's a lot more to come from Kimi, Lindström continued.

Räikkönen himself goes to Germany with a cautious mind and is aiming for a good position.

-This is a new competition for me again. In my first asphalt rally with the Citroen C4 WRC car I immediately found a good feeling. The most important thing for me is to get used to driving a WRC car on this surface. Based on my previous experience I can say that driving on tarmac feels a bit more natural for me but driving a rally car is still a copletely different thing than driving on track, Räikkönen reminds.

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Dracaena