For Alonso so far, Ferrari life is good

After all, he just spent time doing laps in one the company’s brand new 458s and a 599.

Surely it’s better than the Clio he used to get, right?

Ferrari doled out this latest Fernando Alonso news is a brief release on Thursday:

Alonso discovers Ferrari

Maranello, 26 November 2009 – Two very intense days for Fernando Alonso at his second semi-official visit in Maranello. The Spanish driver arrived yesterday morning at the Scuderia, where he proceeded, together with the technicians, to get to know the team and next year’s programme. With a little spare time yesterday and today Fernando had the possibility to visit the works, where the cars from the Prancing Horse, for the road and for Formula 1, are made as well as the Ferrari Classiche department, where, amongst others the single-seater from the 1954 Indianapolis race was present: the unexpected guest received a warmhearted welcome and numerous autograph requests. Before he left, Fernando drove several laps on the Fiorano circuit, first with a 458 Italia and then with a 599: for the red Formula 1 car we’ve still got to wait a bit!

Ferrari’s early juggling of its driver line-up, among other things, is definitely helping it get a head start on 2010 — especially compared to other teams, such as Mercedes, which still needs that second driver. A lot of us harp on the importance of consistency in terms of driver line-up — how that allows the team to gel, the drivers to understand the car and the culture, etc. Alonso’s getting into Maranello as often and as early as he had will, I think, go a long way toward eliminating the “new” factor come the 2010 car release.

It will be interesting to see how next year’s early results mesh up against the timing of teams’ getting their drivers secure. I’d think McLaren, Ferrari and most obviously Red Bull will benefit from this. I wonder how Williams will fare, among others.

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