Fernando Alonso repaid the hard work of the Ferrari mechanics by earning fourth place on the Malaysian grid after a collision with Daniil Kvyat in Q2.
Alonso suffered left front suspension damage, but the team managed to replace the broken part and get him out shortly after the session restarted.
“I think we had a chaotic qualifying like always in the rain situations,” said Alonso. “And we added a little bit more from our side in this one with the incident with the Toro Rosso, so it added a bit more stress into the qualifying. The mechanics did a super job, I think it’s a world record of changing suspension in three minutes, and I was able to keep running.
“The car really felt very strange, I think the toe or something was a little bit crazy after the crash, because it was so light on the right corners and so heavy on the left corners that I could not even move with the two hands. It was difficult, but enough to complete the laps, and I think staring fourth should give us a little bit of a possibility or a window to think of the podium for tomorrow.”
Alonso said he didn’t blame Kvyat for the incident.
“I don’t blame him, I think it was 50:50 probably, because I didn’t see him, that’s the truth, and I turned and only felt a touch, the crash, I didn’t even see him before the movement of the car. Out lap, you probably need to take it a little bit easier, but I think it’s 50:50 and I was lucky to run again. I think he ran again also, so that was the best news.”
Adam Cooper F1 