Fernando Alonso is expecting some help from his teammate Felipe Massa
Fernando Alonso is counting on some help from his teammate Felipe Massa in his hunt for the title this year.
Alonso is currently just 14 points adrift of the championship-leader Mark Webber with just three races left in this season, while his teammate has been out of the title chase for several races now. Before the Japanese Grand Prix took place, Ferrari president
Luca di Montezemolo asked his team for all the assistance they can provide for Fernando and hoped that Massa will return as strong as he used to be in the final races of this season.
However, Felipe retired out of the Japanese Grand Prix in the first lap. After Massa’s disappointing result, Alonso said that he expects Massa to bounce back and work alongside him in order to maximise Ferrari’s competitiveness at the upcoming Korean Grand
Prix.
“The Korean Grand Prix could start to be decisive for some - and for me it will be important also to be able to count on my team-mate Felipe. I know that he will be really hoping to make up for two negative results and he has all the capacities required
to return to the podium”, Alonso wrote in his Ferrari blog.
He added that what is more is that it will be very useful for the team to work together as they would discover the secrets of the new track in Korea enabling them to prepare their cars in the best way.
Alonso claims that he is aware that his team cannot settle for a second best performance behind the Red Bulls if he wants to win the title this year. Ferrari will have to pressurize Red Bull as much as they can and score the perfect execution. The remaining
season is not going to be easy for the team however, one has to agree that Ferrari has a much better chance than the McLarens.
“In Korea we will have to attack because now we must close the gap to Webber. To lose any more ground would make the situation more complicated. We've been working on the new track for a few days on the simulator: the first two sectors are very quick with
long straights while the last sector reminds me of the last part of the circuit at Abu Dhabi”, he added.
Fernando believes that the tarmac is wide and that should make it possible for Ferrari to try some overtaking manoeuvres. Fernando is always curious to discover new tracks from both, a personal and professional point of view. He vows to try his best to discover
if the simulations of the track have been accurate enough and then the team will have a few more kilometres of running available on Friday for the practice sessions. Alonso hopes that the simulations have the exact feeling of the track.
However, the Ferrari driver is not counting out any of his rivals for the Korean Grand Prix. He is aware that he is not the only one who is determined to race at the new track. Fernando hopes to score some good points hopefully, ahead of the Red Bulls in
order to decrease the point’s deficit.
“I still think that the fight for the title is open for five drivers. Too many times this year we've seen someone come back into the game after they'd seemed out of it - and that could easily happen again”, he said.
Having said that, Fernando thinks that only the championship leader Mark Webber can afford a bad weekend and the rest of his rivals are in the same situation as him. It is going to be an exciting and new experience for the spectators and the drivers at the
debut Korean grand prix where the top five drivers throw everything they have in the bag in order to ensure a good result.
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