\u00a0Fernando Alonso on Thursday said he was calm amid reports more adventurous car designs could set the pace in 2011.<\/p>\n
With its radical front-exiting exhausts, the new Renault driven by Robert Kubica set the fastest time of all as the first group test of the pre-season concluded.<\/p>\n
“Futuristic projects are not always better than more conservative ones,” insisted Ferrari’s Alonso, according to La Stampa newspaper.<\/p>\n
“I have my traditional Ferrari and I’m happy that way,” he added.<\/p>\n
The Spaniard had joked earlier that the only thing he has noticed about Red Bull’s new car was its unchanged livery.<\/p>\n
Now also asked about the newly Lotus-sponsored Renault, Alonso answered: “One (the Red Bull) has the same colours as before, the other (the Renault) is different.”<\/p>\n
Christian Horner, boss of the reigning champion Red Bull team, told Sport Bild that he too is cautious about drawing conclusions.<\/p>\n
“Everyone knows that the times are insignificant at the moment,” he insisted.<\/p>\n
Of the other main contenders, McLaren’s 2011 car breaks cover for the first time only on Friday, while there have been concerns about the early speed of Mercedes’ new W02.<\/p>\n
“What we have on the car now is a long way from what we are eventually going to have,” warned Nico Rosberg.\u00a0 “Right now, I’m not worried.”<\/p>\n
And with moving wings, scarce allocations of tyres at the test, KERS and big fuel tanks all in the mix, his Mercedes teammate Michael Schumacher is also not panicking.<\/p>\n
“There are so many things to take into account that I don’t care about the times,” said the German.<\/p>\n
“Some teams could be close already to what they are going to have at the first race, while for others it is different,” Schumacher is quoted by L’Equipe.<\/p>\n
“We will have a clearer picture of the situation in Bahrain for the final test,” he insisted.<\/p>\n
Team boss Ross Brawn agrees: “It’s too early to judge, but there is nothing wrong with this car,” he is quoted by autohebdo.fr.<\/p>\n
His counterpart at Ferrari, technical director Aldo Costa, also said the pecking order after just three days of testing is unclear.<\/p>\n
“I’m not saying we’re stumbling around in the dark, but almost,” he told reporters on Thursday.<\/p>\n
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