Alonso feels pressure on Ferrari

Fernando Alonso believes Ferrari is under a different pressure from the media after a lack of scrutiny over Red Bull's problems in Barcelona.

Sebastian Vettel only completed 23 laps on the final day of testing on Sunday, while Alonso covered 115 as Ferrari struggled to come to terms with the characteristics of the F2012. Alonso pointed out that the pressure is so intense at Ferrari that the Italian press had barely mentioned the failings of its rival, and that meant it had to work even harder to recover from its own problems.

"We've all lived through many Formula 1 seasons and we all know very well that until we're in Australia we don't really know where we stand regarding to the others," Alonso said at Ferrari's Maranello headquarters. "There's lots of talk and many ideas, but nobody knows the truth. For example [Sunday] Red Bull, considered by many to be the front-runner, had only a few laps and the last time on the sheet: if something similar had happened to us, hell would have broken loose, but here nobody really noticed it.

"More than ever we have to give it our all to improve, from the one who's responsible for the rear-view mirror to the one who's responsible for the piston. We're united and we're giving it our all, because we all want the same."

Alonso added that he was focused on the bigger picture, and would sacrifice early wins if it helped the team challenge for the title come the end of the season.

"I just want to remind you of an episode two years ago: at the last test in Barcelona we were fifth behind Red Bull, McLaren, Sauber and Force India and two weeks later we gained a one-two win in Bahrain. What counts is not to be first in the first race, but in November, at the end of the Championship…."

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Raikkonen fastest in final day of final testing

By Andrew BensonChief F1 writer

Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus headed Ferrari's Fernando Alonso as the Formula 1 teams completed pre-season testing in Spain.

Finn Raikkonen, 32, who returns to F1 this season after two years in rallying, set a time 0.220 seconds faster than Alonso.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was sixth fastest behind Williams's Bruno Senna, Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was slowest after a day beset by problems.

The world champion had hoped to try out the new aerodynamic package the team brought to Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya for the first time on Saturday.

But he caused a delay in the morning when he ran off the track, damaging his front wing and diffuser, and then suffered gearbox problems before lunch which kept him out of action for most of the afternoon.

Vettel managed to get out for a brief run with 10 minutes of the session remaining but completed only 22 laps throughout the day, while Hamilton, Alonso and Raikkonen all managed more than 100.

Vettel said he did not want to predict which teams were in the best shape heading to the first race in Melbourne on 18 March.

"You never really know where you are until you get to Melbourne and everyone puts their pants down and you can see what they have got and you can show what you have got in qualifying," the German said.

Asked to rate his pre-season testing out of 10, he said: "You always have things you hope were better, there are not many years you can give yourselves a 10. Overall we can be quite happy, happier than five and less than 10. Somewhere in between."

Raikkonen's lap time was the fastest of the winter and underlined the impression that his team - who have raced as Renault since 2002 - have produced a good car.

But a number of other teams have also shone occasionally.

Alonso's second fastest time belies the impression that his team are struggling, one confirmed by the Spaniard on television on Saturday evening.

On Saturday, Ferrari cancelled the news conference Alonso was scheduled to give after he had finished testing on Sunday.

But he told TV stations while attending the Barcelona v Sporting football match on Saturday evening: "In the first races we will suffer because we are not 100%."

Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn, whose driver Michael Schumacher was eighth overall, echoed the views of many in the paddock in saying that the field seemed more closely matched than for many years.

"The cars look as if they're going to be a bit closer," Brawn said. "I think we're going to have a really exciting season. It could be one of the best we've seen for a number of years."

Final pre-season test, Barcelona - final day fastest times

1 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus-Renault 1:22.030

2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:22.250

3 Bruno Senna (Brz) Williams-Renault 1:22.296

4 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 1:22.312

5 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.386

6 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.430

7 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Caterham-Renault 1:22.795

8 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 1:22.939

9 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams-Renault 1:23.347

10 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.393

11 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 1:23.608

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Raikkonen fastest in final morning of final testing

Kimi Raikkonen showed more pace for Lotus as he set the quickest time of the test so far on the final morning of testing in Barcelona.

After a day disrupted by a power steering failure and rain on Saturday, Raikkonen completed 43 laps and was able to snatch top spot with a late lap on soft tyres. His time of 1:22.030 was 0.064s quicker than the previous best time set by Sergio Perez yesterday, which was also posted on softs.

Fernando Alonso gave Ferrari some late encouragement by setting the second fastest time and completing 63 laps. After the team's decision to cancel all driver interviews throughout the remainder of the weekend yesterday raised further concerns over its true position, Alonso topped the timesheets for most of the session with a 1:22.250 before Raikkonen's late lap.

Williams is splitting its drivers across the final day and Bruno Senna enjoyed a trouble-free morning, completing 53 laps on his way to third quickest in 1:22.296. Williams was even able to finish its programme early and start setting the car up for Pastor Maldonado half an hour before the lunch break.

Nico Hulkenberg was fourth quickest with a 1:22.312, but the main focus of his day will be a race simulation in the final session after he lost a lot of running on Friday afternoon with a driveline problem. He was just ahead of Kamui Kobayashi who spent most of the morning doing setup work and was 0.074s slower than Hulkenberg with a lap on supersoft tyres.

McLaren had a more productive day with its new package than Saturday, with Lewis Hamilton completing 60 laps and setting a best time just 0.4s slower than Raikkonen. Hamilton has already completed more mileage than team-mate Jenson Button managed with the upgraded car, and will spend the afternoon trying to find its optimal setup.

Vitaly Petrov received his new seat for the CT01 this weekend and ended the session seventh with a 1:22.795, just 0.1s slower than team-mate Heikki Kovalainen managed yesterday as Caterham again ran the supersofts. Michael Schumacher was eighth quickest with his best time set on soft tyres in the final half hour, 0.4s ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.

It was a difficult morning for Red Bull, however, as Sebastian Vettel only completed 15 laps. While early attention was attracted by umbrellas covering the rear of the car, when Vettel went out for his first run something appeared to fall off the front of the RB8 on the pit straight. The team aborted and Vettel didn't reappear until the final hour and a quarter of the session, completing two further short runs.

Times

	Driver	Car	Time	Laps
1.	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus E20	1:22.030	41
2.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari F2012	1:22.250	63
3.	Bruno Senna	Williams FW34	1:22.296	53
4.	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India VJM05	1:22.312	45
5.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber C31	1:22.386	57
6.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren MP4-27	1:22.430	60
7.	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham CT01	1:22.795	43
8.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes W03	1:22.939	57
9.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso STR7	1:23.393	53
10.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull RB8	1:23.608	15

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Chris Medland is assistant editor at ESPNF1

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Grosjean fastest again on final tests day two in Barcelona

Romain Grosjean topped the timesheets for the second day in a row at the final pre-season test, as Lotus spent a productive day making up for lost time.

After heavy fog postponed the start of the day's running, 30 minutes was added to the end and Grosjean set his fastest lap - a 1:22.614 - right at the death. His Lotus clocked the headline-grabbing time on a set of soft tyres and completed over 120 laps by the end of the day.

Grosjean's time knocked Jean-Eric Vergne off the top spot, which the Toro Rosso driver had held since setting a 1:23.361 just before lunch. Vergne's best time was set on soft tyres, and he'd just gone out on supersofts when his car came to a halt at turn eight, causing the sixth of eight red flags over the course of the day. The problem turned out to be engine related and fairly serious as the Toro Rosso did not emerge from its garage until the final 30 minutes. He completed just 31 laps in total.

Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull was third fastest, 0.747s adrift of Grosjean's best time. A handful of fans at turn five were treated to the rare sight of his Red Bull grinding to a halt just before lunch, but Vettel was back on track in the afternoon and set his fastest time on medium tyres a couple of hours after lunch. Fernando Alonso set a time 0.086s slower than Vettel and clocked a new mileage record for the car with 125 laps in total, including the F2012's first race simulation.

Heikki Kovalainen showed the Caterham's potential for the first time in testing by setting a lap two seconds faster than it managed last week. His 1:23.828, set on super-soft tyres in the morning session, was 1.6s faster than his qualifying time at the Spanish Grand Prix last year and a clear sign of the progress the team has made with the new CT01.

Kamui Kobayashi's afternoon running was limited by a hydraulic problem but he still completed 73 laps in total with a best time of 1:23.836, good enough for sixth. He was just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Force India, which caused a red flag just after lunch due to a driveline issue and didn't leave the garage again all afternoon.

Michael Schumacher, eighth quickest, had a difficult morning after causing two red flags. The first came when he stopped at turn eight, but the second was far more spectacular as he beached his car in the gravel at turn five. He went on to complete 79 laps in total with a fastest time of 1:23.987.

Lewis Hamilton also had a low-key day, setting the ninth fastest time and clocking just 65 laps. More upgrades are expected to arrive for the McLaren overnight, meaning its weekend times will be a better indication of its true pace ahead of Melbourne.

Williams split its day between its two drivers with Pastor Maldonado completing 20 laps in the morning and Bruno Senna clocking up 48 in the afternoon. Neither came close to matching Maldonado's best time from last week, with Senna on clocking a 1:24.925 and Maldonado a 1:25.801.

Times

	Driver	Car	Time	Laps
1.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus E20	1:22.614	124
2.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso STR7	1:23.126	31
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull RB8	1:23.361	85
4.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari F2012	1:23.447	125
5.	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham CT01	1:23.828	104
6.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber C31	1:23.836	77
7.	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India VJM05	1:23.893	33
8.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes W03	1:23.978	79
9.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren MP4-27	1:24.111	65
10.	Bruno Senna	Williams FW34	1:24.925	48
11.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams FW34	1:25.801	20

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Button fastest at start of final test

Jenson Button set the fastest time on a close morning in Barcelona, as all ten cars were separated by just two seconds.

In a clear indication of how times in testing can be misleading, Button set his best time on hard tyres having previously been quickest on softs. His headline lap of 1:23.510 came during just 27 laps of running as McLaren worked with what Martin Whitmarsh called a "fairly substantial" update on the MP4-27.

Sergio Perez was second quickest as Sauber completed a series of short runs during the morning session and not using the soft tyres. At one stage Perez was closing on Mark Webber's Red Bull by half a second a lap despite the latter being on soft tyres, but it betrayed a lack of fuel in the Sauber and he eventually brought the session to a slightly early end as another fuel run-out test saw him stop at turn 6 and cause the only red flag of the morning.

Lotus carried out some basic aerodynamic tests in the early part of the morning session before removing the sensors from the car in order to carry out some more extensive running. There appeared to be no further issues with the wishbone which forced the team to withdraw from the previous test, and Grosjean covered 38 laps as he was third fastest. His time of 1:23.959 will have been encouraging, as the team confirmed to ESPNF1 that it would be trying to condense two tests work in to the next four days.

Nico Rosberg was productive for Mercedes, with his best time of 1:23.992 coming during a soft tyre run later in the session, putting him just one thousandth of a second ahead of Webber.

Toro Rosso also had a busy morning as Jean-Eric Vergne completed 61 laps. Having set a best time of 1:24.216 Vergne also focussed on hitting his pit marks after every run. He was less than 0.1s ahead of Paul di Resta who completed some aero work before some more substantial runs later in the session.

Ferrari continued to work on the F2012 with Felipe Massa carrying out constant speed tests before later stints on the hard tyre. The close nature of the session was highlighted by the fact that Massa's time was just 0.8s slower than Button but only good enough for eighth quickest.

Vitaly Petrov was the only man to try the supersofts during the morning session and it saw him improve to within 1.4s of the quickest time. Petrov was a late replacement for the ill Heikki Kovalainen at Lotus, but still managed to complete the most laps with 67, while it was a slow start to the day for Williams as Pastor Maldonado remained in the pits for the early part of the session after completing his installation lap and ended the morning tenth.

Times

	Driver	Car	Time	Laps
1.	Jenson Button	McLaren MP4-27	1:23.510	27
2.	Sergio Perez	Sauber C31	1:23.820	56
3.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus E20	1:23.959	36
4.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes W03	1:23.992	57
5.	Mark Webber	Red Bull RB8	1:23.993	53
6.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso STR7	1:24.216	61
7.	Paul di Resta	Force India VJM05	1:24.305	48
8.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari F2012	1:24.318	45
9.	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham CT01	1:24.876	67
10.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams FW34	1:25.587	37

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Chris Medland is assistant editor at ESPNF1

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Australian GP 'least viable' on calendar - Ecclestone

The Australian Grand Prix is currently the season opener
© Sutton Images

Bernie Ecclestone has warned organisers of the Australian Grand Prix that their event is currently the "least viable" on the calendar.

Speculation over the future of the race has been rife for several years, with concerns about the cost of setting the race up each year and vocal opposition from certain members of the Victorian state parliament. Last year Ecclestone gave local fans hope when he said "Australia is just as important to us as Monaco and has been for an awful long time," but he now appears to have changed his mind.

"We have a contract which we will respect - so up until 2015 we are in good shape," Ecclestone toldThe Age on Wednesday. "After then, we really don't know. If we were to have a divorce from our friends in Melbourne we would probably be walking away from Australia. Because I can't see how Adelaide could make it happen, or anywhere else, if Melbourne can't. The race itself, from our point of view, is probably the least viable of all the races we have."

He said the grand prix would have to continue to make financial sense to Formula One's owners with potential venues emerging away from Formula One's traditional destinations.

"We have other races ready to take the place of Australia - which we don't want to happen. But it would be wrong of me to have to report to our board, 'Terribly sorry about this but we have to walk away from wherever to retain Australia'.''

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