Fernando Alonso wary of rival’s threat after the summer break – Formula 1 news
Fernando Alonso is the leading man going into the summer break but goes on his break with the uneasy knowledge that he does not have the fastest car on the circuit.
Alonso has done extremely well to end the first half of the season on high with a respectable lead over his rivals but the last race before the summer break at Hungary revealed an uncomfortable truth that Ferrari does not have the fastest car on the grid.
McLaren have introduced updates to their car and have been able to get the most pace out of the car and are clearly ahead of its rivals while Red Bull and Lotus are not too far behind.
The Spaniard has urged his team to come up with another major update for the car to remain competitive once the team comes back from the summer break.
“We have a lead of 40 points, courtesy of a car that has not been the best in this first half of the season,” said Alonso after his fifth place at Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix. “Now we must try and make a good leap forward in terms of performance to allow
us to keep the lead in the championship, because in the long term, what we have now will not be enough.”
“To have finished ahead of one Red Bull and right behind the other in these circumstances was very important because, on paper, we should have expected to finish seventh,” said Alonso.
He added that at Spa and Monza the team will race in very different conditions than they already have in the season and so anything can happen. Ferrari need to prepare for all sorts of conditions that is important to maintain the lead over other rivals.
Alonso had to start the season with a disappointing Ferrari car that did not match up the competitiveness to its rivals, yet the Spaniard was able to eke out a Grand Prix win and scored some vital points. Since Ferrari have updated the car and the Spaniard
showed how dominant he can be with the right car.
It will be interesting to see how the team will fare as the season progresses.
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