Fernando Alonso: Australian Grand Prix was not a disaster for Ferrari – Formula 1 news
The two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso has said that the opening race of the 2011 Formula 1 season that took place in Australia was not a disaster for his team Ferrari despite the fact that they were quite significantly off the pace of McLaren
and Red Bull Racing Team.
“I already said it at the track: 12 points is not far below the world champion's average last year and two title contenders [Jenson Button and Mark Webber] finished behind me. So overall the Australian Grand Prix can't be defined as disastrous,” said Alonso.
Throughout the pre-season testing phase, Ferrari looked like a potential championship challenging team other than Red Bull Racing Team but at the Australian Grand Prix, it was a completely different situation as McLaren looked quite strong despite the fact
that they were not looking as good as Ferrari and Red Bull throughout the pre-season testing period.
Alonso was almost a second off from Sebastian Vettel’s pole position taking time at the Albert Park Circuit and finished behind Vitaly Petrov in 4th place while his teammate Felipe Massa finished in 7th place.
After looking at the weekend more closely, the Spaniard believes that Ferrari can still come closer to the pace of McLaren and Red Bull Racing Team in near future.
“It wasn't the start that we all wanted but nor is it anything to get worried about. I'm not one of those who believes a degree of temperature here or there can determine major changes in the performance of the car on the track. So I don't agree that the
fact that Sunday was hotter compared to Saturday necessarily played into our favour,” he said.
However, the two-time world champion acknowledged that the car’s lack of pace during the qualifying session was unexpected as the car was looking pretty good until the free practice sessions.
Nevertheless, it was just the first race of the season and Ferrari is hoping to improve its car before heading to Malaysia for the second race of the 2011 Formula 1 season.
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