Fernando Alonso could only manage sixth best time during qualifying, for the Korean Grand Prix at the Yeongam circuit, and was clearly unhappy with the outcome, which will see him start the race from an all Ferrari third row on the grid but remains optimistic that he can still battle for a win as he did at Suzuka last weekend.
Speaking to media after qualifying, Alonso said, “I can’t be happy with sixth, but the position reflects our current situation: McLaren and Red Bull are stronger than us so it just leaves us to fight between ourselves for fifth and sixth places. That’s how Saturday goes, but maybe tomorrow will end up like Sunday in Suzuka and we will find ourselves again fighting for the win.”
The Spaniard, who won last year’s inaugural Korean GP, explained, “When tyre degradation is very high, usually we are in good shape, but here the situation is not very clear, as the behaviour of the Supersofts over a long run and on full tanks is still an unknown quantity. We had considered using this tyre right from Q1 but then we decided not to take too many risks.”
“Today, we were losing too much time in the first sector, where we lacked top speed. On my last run, I immediately lost a few tenths at the first corner and after that, I could not make up the time, so I decided not to complete the lap,” revealed the two times world champion.
Alonso added, “Unfortunately, I start from the dirty side of the grid, which should be a major disadvantage here, so I hope I don’t lose a place to Rosberg. We will have to keep an eye on what happens ahead of us and exploit the strategy in our favour.”
Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali shared Alonso’s optimism, saying: “Only eight days ago we were in an almost identical situation and then, 24 hours later we came very close to winning. Therefore, let’s wait and see how things go tomorrow and then we can add up the figures from this weekend.”
When asked about the new front wing the team tested on the Italia 150, Alonso was vague, “The new front wing? I don’t like talking about individual components; on the one hand I think that’s a job for the engineers, on the other, I prefer to share my opinions about it only with the team.”
Source: YallaF1
