now the challenge is also with Alonso and his Aston Martin-Corriere.it

From skirmishes in court to factor F. Like Fernando, Alonso. The great ex, still mourned by many in Maranello. Forty-one years of total grit: challenge his age and past, agitate the Ferrari troop already engaged in a difficult comeback on Verstappen and Perez, and now also forced to protect their backs. F1’s first real day of school. To explain the Spaniard’s grin yesterday we have to go back over a year ago. When Red Bull tried (unnecessarily) to block Dan Fallows from moving to Aston Martin. He was one of the chiefs of aerodynamics, one of the most esteemed by Adrian Newey. He moved a few kilometers, carrying a suitcase full of technical secrets to the new Silverstone office. And with him other leading engineers – the Italian Luca Furbatto, the French Eric Blandin, ex Mercedes – seduced by the generous offers of the Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll.

Fernando, having good information, said goodbye to the Alpine to board a launched train. It was Frecciaverde. Not only the best time, obtained on Friday, to fuel forbidden desires (Nando’s last pole dates back to 2012, German GP), rather the consistency on the race pace to place him as a possible spoilsport for the Ferrari run-up. He now fears vertigo, calls for calm. According to his rivals, he squeezed the Mercedes engine to the max, and simulated qualifying on low fuel.

But the most unpredictable and amusing variable of this start of the season remains. Where worried faces abound, and how. More than all that of Hamilton: the Freccianera takes them everywhere, it is a second behind Red Bull. But yesterday Max’s expression also changed. Because the car no longer looked the same due to micro-variations to the set-up – they had to lift it slightly – and due to the minimal advantage over Perez (2 thousandths). Problems with the first in the class, however, they remain the favorites for what they have shown over the distance. Leclerc also admits it: I’m ahead of everyone. Ferrari seems like an open building site, there is confidence in the potential of the SF-23. But more capricious in setting up than the previous car, it showed gaps in wheelbase. By increasing horsepower today – the engine stress test in free practice was entrusted to Hulkenberg on Haas, fifth behind Charles – we can aim for the front row. Not on pole, for the number 16: I don’t think we have the potential, we are in the fray ready to seize every opportunity. The fray, a concept reiterated by Laurent Mekies, which puts the Red in a group with Mercedes and Aston Martin. Not reassuring words, like Carlos Sainz’s bad day (spin in the morning, mistake in the lap launched in the afternoon). Like the experimental wing tested by Leclerc and immediately rejected because it swung like a sail. The wind takes its turn, Ferrari must take the right one.