Whilst the ultimate aim for pole positions and winning decisions continues to elude both Ferrari drivers, the team will be thoroughly satisfied with the 26 point salvo taken from the Spanish grand prix.

Given by the total dominance of the Red Bulls during the weekend’s running (with the team being at least 7 tenths of a second ahead of the nearest opposition in every session after first practice), and the turn of speed from the championship-leading McLarens, and qualifying seemed to suggest there’d be no Ferrari presence on the podium for the second race in a row. With Mercedes feeling brash about their big new update and Michael Schumacher looking like his old (read: younger) self, you wouldn’t blame the team for looking over their shoulders come race day.

However, it appears that Ferrari are intent on making the F10 more than just a pointless button on a computer keyboard. The car isn’t on a par to the brittle yet brilliant Red Bull RB6, but does seems to be noticeably quicker in racetrim than qualifying. The Red Bull’s qualified a full second ahead of Alonso, but Mark Webber’s victory margin of 24 seconds equates to him being around 0.35 seconds a lap faster. Obviously this is still a pretty huge gap, but it definitely isn’t insurmountable. Early signs are that the car’s lack of downforce might make tracks like Spain and China lost causes, but look out for the rampaging red cars at tracks like Montreal and Silverstone where straight-line speed pays to a premium. With the team’s new ‘F-Duct’ system giving Alonso consistantly the fastest pit-straight speeds, the progress made from the team should ensure podiums aplenty.

After a batch of bad luck in the past few races, Alonso managed a stonking drive to second place in a car that should really have only been good enough for fifth. Clearly he had luck in the shape of Sebastian Vettel’s brake woes and Lewis Hamilton’s dramatic tyre blowout, but he gave as good as he could give for his homecrowd. The Spaniard now lies just three points adrift of championship leader Jenson Button, a remarkable feat considering the Ferrari hasn’t even been in contention for a win since the season opener. In football, it is often the team that can grind out the points when not playing well that takes the title (although that said, Chelsea gave a Red Bull-esque pummelling to Wigan to piss all over my metaphor!) – if Ferrari can find a turn of pace then Alonso has the points on the board to make it count.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Felipe Massa. Having failed to impress in the choatic wet-weather bonanza that has been the start of the season, he can have few excuses for a performance that saw him finish over 40 seconds off his teammate. A poor qualifying left him ninth, with the troubles of Hamilton and Rosberg handing him a sixth placed finish, just five seconds ahead of Adrian Sutil’s Force India. He still seems to have the support of the team, who have promised to look into ways they can improve the car to his liking; with Ferrari having a tradition to favour a lead driver over his reserve, the risk of any Massa-centered upgrades potentially dismantling Alonso’s flying start (as seemed to happen with the new Mercedes being more suited to Michael Schumacher) is a ringing endorsement to the team’s feelings towards him. Whether any improvements to his car can be made before Monaco remains to be seen – but Felipe certainly needs to bring a few of his own.

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