Fernando Alonso says he would be starting as high as third in Japan had his final qualifying lap not been compromised by yellow flags for a spinning Kimi Raikkonen.
Alonso says he would have been fourth, behind Jenson Button, and would then have gained from the McLaren driver’s penalty. Instead he finished the session in seventh, and moves up to sixth.
“We were the only ones to get it,” said Alonso. “Five seconds there were no yellow flags, the car behind me was a green flag already, so we just lost probably position four, which was our target on the split times. With Button’s penalty it would have been starting third tomorrow, so the race was much different. Very unlucky today.”
Alonso remains upbeat about Sunday’s race, although he acknowledged that the competition is tough.
“Tyre degradation seems quite high, so we need to do the maximum for that. I think the start will be also important. We have the two McLarens behind us, they have a very strong race pace, so there will be a challenge there. But points are on Sunday, so we need to be optimistic.
“Together with McLaren Red Bull have dominated nearly all the pole positions etc, so they keep doing an amazing job. We know that we need to improve. We are fighting against big, big cars, and big performing cars. At the moment we are doing more or less OK, saving some Sundays. But we know that Saturdays, especially over one single lap, we cannot do anything.”.
Adam Cooper F1 