Fernando Alonso admits he’s surprised to have ended up as low as fifth on the grid in Singapore, and especially with the time gap to pole man Lewis Hamilton.
Alonso had looked more competitive yesterday than when it mattered in qualifying today.
“We were not happy with the performance of the car this weekend,” said the Ferrari driver. “We were expecting much more, fighting closely with the top teams. But we found ourselves too slow already from yesterday, and today 1.5s from pole position, so this is probably a bad surprise this weekend.
“But nothing we can do now other than concentrate on the race and score as many points as possible tomorrow. Anyway the average position for me this year in qualifying is sixth. I’m fifth so more or less it’s the same, or even better. So let’s say it has been a good Saturday so far in a way.
“We need to maximise points tomorrow, finish the race, which is not that easy here. It’s very demanding for the mechanical side, suspension, temperatures, brakes, gearbox, everything will be struggling tomorrow, apart from concentration from a driver point of view. If someone wins the race who is much faster than us, we congratulate them, and we think for the next one.”
Alonso remains hopeful that he can consolidate his championship lead on Sunday.
“I think we cannot win with the pace we have now, but we are fighting for a World Championship. Our main opponents, we have two in front, two behind, Kimi and Webber behind and Vettel and Hamilton in front. We see if we can finish in front of three of them at least tomorrow.”
Adam Cooper F1 