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The Scuderia Ferrari team had a great weekend in China after Fernado Alonso drove a masterclass race to get Ferrari the first win of their 2013 campaign. Felipe Massa showed good pace early on but dropped off midway into the race to finish down in sixth position. But overall, the F138 seems to be working well in all track conditions and is looking as one of the most consistent cars on the extremely delicate and fragile Pirelli tyres.
Last year in Bahrain, Ferrari drivers had to muscle the F2012 to get some decent amount of points and the grand prix wasn’t a particularly exciting one for them. This year though, they have a much more improved F138 which has till now been very quick in all the races. So the team is quite optimistic heading into Bahrain and is looking to build on their good result in China.
“It was a great weekend for us, the team did extremely well, Fernando drove an extraordinary race and I am just sorry for Felipe who was robbed of the chance to finish nearer the front, because of an issue with tyre graining,” said Scuderia Team Principal Stefano Domenicali a few hours after the Chinese Grand Prix. “The result is definitely a nice boost as we prepare to start again in just a couple of days in Bahrain. The F138 produced a good performance, but we are not going to get carried away, as it’s just one race, one win in a season that’s got a very long way to go yet,” he warned. “We are not yet at the level we need to be at in qualifying, but it’s hard to judge the level of our competitors because we have seen no one team dominate in the three races so far. Clearly some of our rivals are very strong and matching them is a target we need to achieve very soon. Because it’s only by securing the best possible grid positions that we can use the full extent of the potential offered by our race pace. If you start from the front, you can manage the tyres in a better way too.”
“As the conditions will be very different with much higher temperatures, we can expect this to affect the way the tyres perform,” confirmed Domenicali. “Cooling requirements also need to be looked at in Bahrain and in general, we will be doing all we can to ensure we are as well prepared as possible and that we make no mistakes when it comes to finalising the set-up on the F138 for this weekend.”
