Unless you are a Formula 1 fan, you might have wondered why there was so much fuss around the Ferrari team choosing Lanzarote as it's base for their first ever team training camp.
Ferrari are the most famous team in the sport, and Fernando Alonso is perhaps Spain's most well known sports star. As a result, Lanzarote has been talked about in the international press all week as a fabulous sporting destination, with great weather.
Add Ferrari to Jenson Button, Eddy Merckx and the dozens of triathlon, boxing and Rugby superstars who visit the island regularly, and you begin to realise how important this positive publicity is becoming for our tourism industry.
This ten minute video was filmed during the F1 Scuderia Ferrari team visit to Club La Santa, Lanzarote in January 2012. The film includes interviews with the four drivers who have really enjoyed their training camp in Lanzarote. They have each learned something new about the other drivers and there was an Olympic games held between the drivers and their trainers to see who was the fittest…….the drivers won easily! Their training consisted of sessions in the gym, kayaking, mountain biking, badminton, football, basketball, beach training, running and even table tennis.
Fernando Alonso said it has been a fun week, the team mates have enjoyed themselves, there’s a good atmosphere which has set them up for the whole season. His favourite was the mountain biking training which they completed each morning where they have discovered some amazing places in Lanzarote. He was surprised at how good a swimmer Felipe was.
Felipe Massa felt it was a good idea to prepare physically together with their friends, drivers and trainers, the camp has set them up in the right direction for the real job of driving cars. They’ve had lots of fun together and they feel like a real team, its been a nice time there are lots of other sports people and equipment here in Lanzarote.
Jules Bianchi didn’t enjoy the swimming, they were told to swim an hour a day. He enjoyed seeing the different ways that the drivers train, which has been really useful. He knew that Fernando wanted to win when driving but not that he wanted to win in every sport!
Davide Rignon learned a lot about his physical state, he enjoyed the mountain biking and saw some very nice views on unbelievable terrain. He discovered his fear of water and will miss the group training when back at home.
Sporting director Massimo Rivola explained that the team training camp idea was born in Korea, he had spoken to Fernando about a personal training week for him which became a team event when they spoke to the other drivers. The competition between the drivers and trainers has been something very good and they plan to continue in the future.
Team Principal Stefano Domenicali said it had been a great idea and they are already planning the next one – interestingly F1 teams haven’t trained as a team like this before – we’re interested to see what effect it has on the team performance during the coming season.
We saw the guys playing basketball on their last night on the island. It looked like they were relaxed and enjoying themselves, and they weren’t as white as when they arrived!
We hope that Lanzarote will be top of the list for their training camp for the 2013 F1 season.
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