Fernando Alonso dropped from second to fourth after the safety car in Singapore, and yet the Spaniard still pronounced himself happy with how the weekend unfolded for Ferrari.
His race started with a trip across the first corner, after which he ceded a place to Sebastian Vettel.
“I made a mistake in the first corner and I went straight,” he said. “I gave back one position because I thought that was more or less fair. I was waiting for instructions from the team, on lap two they told me that race direction was OK with only one position, and we kept pushing all the race through. We were probably secure in second position after the second stop, with a good margin and a good pace. The safety car probably didn’t come in a good moment.”
Unlike the Red Bulls Alonso had to pit as he hadn’t yet used the soft tyre, and he felt that he could have have extended his previous stint, as Lewis Hamilton did before making the switch.
“With Hamilton it worked to stay out with the strategy, but he has two seconds margin, and it’s easier to open the gap with that margin. Probably we could not make it. I think the strategy was good, probably a little bit unlucky with the moment.
“But fighting with the leaders is something that we normally miss this year, so definitely a step forward this weekend. We have to have our feet on the ground, knowing that we’ve been not competitive this year. It’s not that from our race to another we will become competitive. If we are moving in the right direction, yes. Not enough probably, but I’m quite happy.”
Adam Cooper F1 