Formula one: Alonso to test new Ferrari today
People do not want to spend their time looking at one-million-pound extravaganzas any more, says Whitmarsh.
LONDON:
Fernando Alonso will test his new Ferrari for the first time in Spain today while former champions Williams bring Formula One’s ‘launch season’ to a close as the last team to unveil their 2013 car. There will not be much fanfare, if any, at either event when the second of three pre-season tests gets underway at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. In days gone by, the unveiling of new cars was an excuse for excess, but the norm this year has been for the bright and shiny new cars to be pushed out of the garage into the sunlight and then sent on their way after a few brief words from the team boss and drivers. “There are some reality checks going around,” observed McLaren principal Martin Whitmarsh. “People do not want to spend their time looking at one-million-pound ($1.55-million) extravaganzas any more. Times have changed. We peaked.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2013.
Fernando Alonso will test his new Ferrari for the first time in Spain today while former champions Williams bring Formula One’s ‘launch season’ to a close as the last team to unveil their 2013 car. There will not be much fanfare, if any, at either event when the second of three pre-season tests gets underway at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. In days gone by, the unveiling of new cars was an excuse for excess, but the norm this year has been for the bright and shiny new cars to be pushed out of the garage into the sunlight and then sent on their way after a few brief words from the team boss and drivers. “There are some reality checks going around,” observed McLaren principal Martin Whitmarsh. “People do not want to spend their time looking at one-million-pound ($1.55-million) extravaganzas any more. Times have changed. We peaked.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2013.