Alonso and Ferrari, who have re-signed resurgent Brazilian Felipe Massa for
2013, arrive at India’s Buddh International Circuit believing they have
resolved some of their performance problems after a successful wind tunnel
test.
Ferrari chief designer Nicolas Tombazis said separate aero tests have helped
the team understand where rogue wind tunnel results were hampering the
performance of recent upgrades.
He said: “The wind tunnel can only ever be a model of what things are
like in reality and can never be completely real. The data we saw in our
wind tunnel did not match 100 per cent the data we had at the track.
“We had some unpleasant surprises from some of the updates we brought to
the last couple of races, so immediately, we wanted to fix that and
understand where it had gone wrong.”
McLaren also remained defiant about their ability to bounce back in the race
for the team title, with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button now out of the
running for the drivers trophy.
“They (Red Bull) are within reach and we will never give up trying to
turn that around,” said technical director Paddy Lowe.
“I think we have seen this year that if you can qualify on the front row
and then have even a moderate advantage or no advantage at all, it works for
you to stay at the front. So we will have to turn qualifying around.”
He added that he felt Red Bull’s recent recovery in pace and performance is
just another part of the ongoing development war that has dominated the
entire season.
He said McLaren plan for more upgrades that may see the team back on top this
weekend.
“We have some big stuff we are working on – whether it will be enough,
we don’t know yet, but it will be spread across India and Abu Dhabi,”
said Lowe.
“It is going to be difficult to catch Red Bull in the constructors’
championship, but we have a great determination to take second place – and
we always like to keep Ferrari behind us.
“That will be the least we should want to manage out of this season.”