“[He is] helping to show us where it is weak and helping us to make it
stronger.
“He has class written all over him and we know that within in a very short
space of time, we will also be seeing the results on the track.”
Ferrari have already parted ways with Stefano Domenicali, who was replaced as
team principal by Marco Mattiacci, a Formula One novice.
Allison was effusive in his praise for Alonso, who dragged his uncompetitive
Ferrari to third in Shanghai.
“We are very fortunate here at Ferrari to have two such good drivers, two
drivers with an impeccable pedigree,” Allison said.
“With Fernando we’ve seen as always an extraordinary level of performance,
scavenging every possible point at every possible opportunity. And we have
to say thank you to him for what he has managed to do with the car so far
this year.”
Meanwhile, Renault have promised improvements to their struggling engine for
the start of the European season this weekend in Spain, with Red Bull so far
crippled by its shortcomings.
Remi Taffin, Renault’s head of track operations, said: “I would not say
optimism, as we are still on realism.
“But it is fair to say that coming into Barcelona or Monaco, they are not
going to be massively power sensitive.
“They are energy sensitive, though, so in the race it is always going to be
important to have the power unit working right.
“But ahead of Montreal we want to have something that is very close to 100 per
cent.
“All in all, it is looking promising. But we mustn’t forget about reliability.
“However, I think Renault has never been as pushy as we are at the minute
looking at reliability.”