Fernando Alonso: “Obviously we are optimistic…”

Fernando Alonso has never had much luck in Valencia, and despite being fastest in practice today, the Ferrari driver was not getting too excited. However, he was willing to concede that he was “optimistic” for qualifying.

The local hero was 0.2 ahead of nearest challenger Lewis Hamilton, and a further tenth clear of Sebastian Vettel.

“It was OK, a normal Friday for us,” said Alonso. “We’re trying to understand the medium tyres. Everything seems OK, according to our information. We completed a lot of laps in the programme with both cars. We had a smooth Friday, but how competitive we are, I don’t think we can have an idea.

“We’ve been first position on Friday some races already, and then on Saturday we are fourth or fifth, with Red Bull always very dominant, and McLaren on average in front of us. I don’t expect tomorrow a big miracle. It will be very tough for us, if we want to be in front. Obviously we are optimistic, we are confident that we can do a good qualifying, and we will give 100%.”

Alonso downplayed the rule changes that are expected to rein in Red Bull in qualifying.

“I think the change of the regulation means nothing [here]. We have exactly the same car as we had in Canada. In Silverstone it can be more change, but here is exactly the same. If we are competitive here, it’s because of the track characteristics. The car is more or less identical to Canada, it’s just the circuit and the tyres are working well. We’ll see tomorrow.”

Although overtaking has been much easier at other venues this year, Alonso thinks it will still be tough in Valencia.

“It will be difficult. I had a couple of laps behind the Sauber in the last run, and I noticed it was very difficult to overtake, even using the DRS. Obviously it’s not as extreme as Monaco, where it is impossible to overtake, but I think here in Valencia it is very, very difficult.

“A good starting position is important tomorrow, so we need to find a good set-up for the race, but we cannot forget qualifying, because as I said it will be difficult in the race to see as many overtaking as some other places.”