Fernando Alonso says that Ferrari didn’t have its usual race pace in Korea, and admits he already realised after practice that it would be a tough weekend.
For once Alonso didn’t gain places during the race, starting and finishing sixth, behind Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton.
“Normally on Sunday we have a good pace, but here also on Sunday we didn’t have the performance we expected,” he said. “We saw on Friday a little bit, the long runs were not as good as other Grands Prix, and we knew that maybe the race was tough, and unfortunately we confirmed this feeling today. We were not so good at the start, in Turn 3 we lost a position to Nico, and then we were all the race behind Hulkenberg, which obviously also doesn’t help the tyres. We didn’t have the pace, but hopefully in Suzuka we can come back to a better one and fight for the podium again.”
Fernando had a lucky escape on the first lap, when he was nearly hit by a spinning Felipe Massa.
“It was close, obviously we arrived there everybody attacking. Felipe lost the control a little bit, but we were able to avoid a collision. I don’t know if I had a chance to attack Nico in Turn 4, I doubt, so I don’t think the race changed too much for me. Felipe recovered some positions and arrived ninth, so it’s important for the constructors’ championship as well. As I said we need to recover form in Suzuka.”
Alonso appears resigned to the pace of Red Bull: “It’s no surprise any more, so more or less you know it’s not frustrating or surprising you on Sunday. You know this on Thursday before you arrive to the Grand Prix. The place Webber overtook me in Turn 6, you need to have another category car, because it’s impossible to do Turn 4 and 5 behind another car and be side-by-side – this is a super performance. And they deserve it, they are the best ones at the moment, they are winning everything, and we have to do better.”
Adam Cooper F1 